Whee, Purple Potatoes! ワイィ、むらさき芋！

There's one product that I've been continually on the lookout for since I arrived in Japan, as it is reputed to be fairly hard to find. That's the Japanese murasaki imo, similarly called the (Okinawan) beni imo (not to be confused with the purple yam ube, or taro, which is usually called "sato imo" in Japanese).

来日から、かなり見つけにくいそうで、ずっと探してた食品が一つある。それは、日本のむらさき芋なんだ。またの言い方は、（沖縄の）紅芋。（このいもは、ウベと、サトイモの「タロ」と違うということです。）

Mindi and I actually found these by accident the first time. We picked up what we thought were some naruto kintoki potatoes. When we got home and cut them open, we were surprised to find...

実は、最初に買ったときは、気付かずに（偶然に）買っちゃったよ。鳴門金時だと思って、買ってきたが、切ってから中を見て、びっくりしたのは。。。

...this.
。。。この色。

But, it was a happy realization. We baked those first few up and ate them eagerly. They were absolutely delicious.
でも、うれしく気付いたんだよ。その芋を焼いて、ガンガン食べちゃった。すごく美味しかった！

After that, we were on a mission to procure more purple 'taters, so we went back the next week to see if there were more for sale. There were. We bought them ALL. Did I mention they were astoundingly cheap? Like 140 yen for a bag of two?

その後、むらさき芋をもっともっと食べたくなったから、次の週末、探しに行った。見つけたんだ。皆買っちゃったんだ。あっ、そう言えば、ごっつ安く売っていたと言っといたっけ？二個入っている一俵が１４０円ぐらい安い？

We made purple potato salad.

 むらさき芋サラダを作ったり。

And purple potato cake in my bread maker.  That's kabocha mousse spread on the last one. We haven't made purple potato mousse yet, but we will!
ホームベーカリーでむらさき芋ケーキも作ったりした。最後のに塗っているのは、カボチャムース。むらさき芋ムースは、まだだけど、絶対に作ってみる！

I think the pictures say all that needs to be said, so until next time.
写真で、言葉は多分それより要らなくなっているから、じゃ。。

Mata ne.
またね。