Tasting Memories
Sweet Potato Pie Courtesy of Christale White
Soul was the cultural arm of the black power movement and Newark New, Jersey’s Amiri Baraka had been one of the leading figures in the black arts movement of the late 1960s. In his 1966 book Home: Social Essays Baraka writes “Sweet potato pies, a good friend of mine asked recently, ‘Do they taste anything like pumpkin?’ Negative. They taste more like memor[ies],” of the south.
Fred's Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
4 to 6 large baked organic sweet potatoes (My mother in law taught me that baking the sweet potato makes the pie come out better than boiling them which is what a lot of folks do. Like steaming, baking is also healthier than boiling because it preserves the water soluble vitamins in the sweet potatoes).
2 large eggs or egg substitutes
1 cup of milk (or plant based milk)
1-2 cups unprocessed sweetener of your choice
2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
Dash of vanilla extract
Directions:
Mix the ingredients into a sweet potato purée add milk as needed to make a smooth but thick filling. Bake in a pie crust shell at 375 degrees on lowest rack for 50 minutes, until filling has set. Cool on rack for one hour. Then transfer to refrigerator and chill completely.
