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Kumara (Ipomoea batatas ,)is a very classic vegetable in NZ. When I was growing up, a roast dinner was nothing without it (along with roast potatoes and roast pumpkin) and heaven forbid if it wasn’t from the menu on the first night home from an extended foreign trip. All Kiwis crave these flavours when they’re away from home for an extended period.It actually merited its reputation, too. Sweet, moist, frequently reminiscent of chestnuts, especially when seasoned with some of the juices oozing from the meat with which it was cooked. In those days, the sole variety we knew and was available was the red kumara – red/purple skin and pale yellow flesh. And as far as I am aware, roasting was ‘it ‘! No fancy recipes, and God forbid oil! No, it was just cooked next to the roast in the pan, sucking up those excellent juices and a good dollop of fat!
If you belonged to, or had chums in the Maori community, you may have been lucky enough to taste kumara cooked in a conventional hangi, or cooking pit, in which meat or fish, veg and pudding would be steamed until they were tender. The resulting flavours were subtly affected by the cooking medium and were very intense and true to nature, as generally, there were not any added flavourings. This provided an outstanding contrast to the European form of cooking, where pepper and salt, tomato sauce and chutneys and all kinds of other seasonings often masked the natural flavour of the food.
Now, other types of kumara are readily available and each offers its own special attributes of colour, texture and flavor. There are thousands of recipes available and they are used in both sweet and savoury dishes.
Origin
Sweet Potato, (Kumara) has a long history. The plant was first recorded in Central and South America and the earliest traces of its domestication there date back at least 5,000 years. It is not, notwithstanding its name, a relation of the Potato family, but is allied to the Morning Glory, the plant better remembered for for its pretty purple flowers and its habit of spreading everywhere.
Origin in New Zealand
The first Maori wanderers brought more than one type of Kumara to NZ from the Pacific when they arrived by canoe between 1,000 and 750 years ago. It appears they were smaller than those of the modern day, finger sized and yellow. Taputini, was one of a few types of bush kumara that were originally grown here. Evidence of the earliest use in the Pacific has been found in the Cook Islands and remains of traditional cultivars have been radio-carbon dated to roughly 1,000 A.D.
Modern Kumara
The sweet potato we buy today, came from cuttings originally brought here from the U.S. in the 1850s by whalers and sealers who plied their trade around the NZ coastline. Local inhabitants who farmed kumara realised that this was an improved crop and welcomed it, so it shortly displaced the first types which are now grown only for study.
Barbara Moss is a long-time lover of kumara in its diverse forms. She has also got a web-site which is dedicated to the numerous aspects of eating, cooking and the history of food. As well she is developing a site from which tools for the kitchen and books about food and cooking, might be purchased.Thanks to Wikipedia and Kaipara Kumara for additonal facts.
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