Cookbook:Camotes Enmielados (Mexican Sweet Yams)

Camotes Enmielados (Mexican Sweet Yams)
Difficulty

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Camotes enmielados, also known as camotes con pilocilo, or camotes enmielados al horno, camotes con piloncilo al horno, is a baked, or stovetop, dessert-style Mexican yam/sweet potato dish. It is traditionally a home-cooked food, not typical restaurant fare. The finished product should have a strong caramel flavor, with a typical hint of bitterness from the molasses component of the sugar used. The sauce should be syrupy and very dark in color. The cinnamon flavor should be an accent, and not dominating.

Ingredients

• 1 large yam or sweet potato, optionally peeled
• 1 large piloncilo cone (unrefined Mexican sugar)
• 4 sticks cinnamon
• ½ water

Procedure

1. Place whole or thickly-sliced yams in a large baking dish.
2. Place piloncilo cone atop the yams, then add water and cinnamon.
3. Cover dish, and bake for about 60 minutes, basting the yams with the now sweetened cooking liquid as needed.

Notes, tips, and variation

• Any dark, unrefined sugar may be reasonably substituted for the piloncilo, including turbinado sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar with added molasses, muscovado, and even jaggery.

Street vendor applying sweetened condensed milk to Camotes, Mexico City

Further reading

• Latin American Street Food: The Best Flavors of Markets, Beaches, and Roadside Stands from Mexico to Argentina, Sandra A. Gutierrez. The University of North Carolina Press (2013), ISBN: 978-1469608709