MY SWEET SUGARS!
SWEET POTATOES
3-4 medium to large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1-2 tsp. of cinnamon
1-2 tsp. of ginger
1-2 tsp. of ground nutmeg
2 tbsp. of white sugar
2 tbsp. of brown sugar
½ cup of orange juice
½ cup of pineapple juice
A few drizzles of Louisiana Black Cane Syrup or honey
1-2 sticks of butter, softened
¼ cup of finely chopped pecans
In a large plastic bag, place all the dry ingredients together, shake and mix well. Place orange juice, pineapple juice, and soften butter in a separate bowl and whisk together well. Place sweet potatoes in a large deep baking dish. Sprinkle all the dried ingredients evenly, then pour on liquid mixture. Lastly, drizzle the cane syrup evenly over and around sweet potatoes, and sprinkle pecans over the top. Bake at 200-275 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, (depending on thickness of sweet potatoes). Baste and turn in the liquid at least 4-5 times for the duration of the cooking time. While baking, cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
My great-aunt, Olida Dumas Duncan, prepared the sweetest sweet potatoes I ever ate, better know as “Sugar”. Sugar is the daughter of Felix Dumas and the sister of my grandmother, Thelma Camille Cecile Kidd. Though they both carried the blood of the same father, but different mothers, it always seemed humorously striking how they looked so much alike. However, they didn’t find each other’s biological connection until the late 60’s. Sugar still lives in New Orleans with her daughter, (my cousin), Johnese Cannady, on Gen. Ogden St. Sugar always seemed to have a special “sweetness” when it came to preparing sweet potatoes. I guess it also follows how she got her sweet name!…`cause she’s `sho’`nuff’ sweet, `yeah’!