Roasted sweet potato

Roasted sweet potato is a popular winter street food in East Asia.

Roasted sweet potato

Alternative names	Gun-goguma, kǎo-báishǔ, haau-faansyu, yaki-imo
Place of origin	East Asia (China, Japan, Korea)
Main ingredients	Sweet potatoes
Similar dishes	Roasted chestnut
Cookbook: Roasted sweet potato

Regional names
Chinese name (northern China)
Chinese	烤白薯
Literal meaning	"roasted sweet potato"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin kǎo-báishǔ Wade–Giles k'ao^3 pai^2shu^3
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	烤地瓜
Literal meaning	"roasted sweet potato"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin kǎo-dìguā Wade–Giles k'ao^3 ti^4kwa^1
Cantonese name
Chinese	烤番薯
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization haau-faan-syu
Japanese name
Kanji	焼き芋
Kana	やきいも
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn yaki-imo

China

In China, yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes are roasted in a large iron drum and sold as street food during winter.[1] They are called kǎo-báishǔ (烤白薯; "roasted sweet potato") in northern China, haau faan syu (烤番薯) in Cantonese speaking regions, and kǎo-dìguā (烤地瓜; "roasted sweet potato") in Taiwan, as the name of sweet potatoes themselves vary across the sinophone states and regions.

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  roasted sweet potato from China
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  roasted sweet potatoes hawker in Hong Kong

Korea

Sweet potatoes roasted in drum cans, called gun-goguma (군고구마; "roasted sweet potato"), are also popular in both North and South Korea.[2][3] The food is sold from late autumn to winter by the vendors wearing ushanka, which is sometimes referred to as "roasted sweet potato vendor hat" or "roasted chestnut vendor hat". Although any type of goguma (sweet potato) can be roasted, softer, moist varieties such as hobak-goguma (pumpkin sweet potato) are preferred over firmer, floury varieties such as bam-goguma ("chestnut sweet potato") for roasting.[4]

In South Korea, roasted sweet potatoes are dried to make gun-goguma-mallaengi (군고구마 말랭이), and frozen to make ice-gun-goguma (아이스 군고구마).[5] Although gun-goguma has traditionally been a winter food, gun-goguma ice cream and gun-goguma smoothie are nowadays enjoyed in summer.[6]

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  Gun-goguma
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  Typical gun-goguma drum can in Korea
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  Roasting goguma in the drum can
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  Gun-goguma-mallaengi (half-dried roasted sweet potatoes) as a snack
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  Ice-gun-goguma eaten as summer food
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  Gun-goguma ice cream (with package)
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  Gun-goguma ice cream (inside)

Japan

In Japan, similar street food is called ishi yaki-imo (石焼き芋; "roasted sweet potato in heat stones") and sold from trucks during the winter.[7]

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  yaki-imo vendor in Nara, Japan

See also

• Roasted chestnut

References

1. Wilson, Audrey (2016-11-15). "Let's Talk Food: Is there a difference between sweet potatoes and yams?". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
2. Carruth, David (2016-11-28). "10 Korean Winter Street Foods To Bear The Cold For". 10 Magazine. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
3. "North Korea food shortage worst in years, despite farms - USATODAY.com". Associated Press. 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2017-02-09 – via USA Today.
4. Shin, Mi-Young; Lee, Won-Young (2011). "Physical Properties and Preference of a Steamed Sweet Potato Slab after Mild Hot Air Drying". Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science. 27 (2): 73–81. doi:10.9724/kfcs.2011.27.2.073.
5. (in Korean) 최, 현주 (2017-02-01). "작년엔 바나나 열풍, 올해는 고구마 바람". JoongAng Ilbo. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
6. (in Korean) "겨울 별미 군고구마? 여름 간식 급부상". The Korean Farmers and Fishermen's Newspaper. 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
7. Lyon, Peter (2016-12-22). "These Japanese Hot Potato Trucks Are Delicious But Could Be Deadly". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-09.