Camotes

Описание: I LOVE roasted sweet potatoes and make them at home every week for snacking, so when I heard the camote vendor in Tepa on a cold night, I had to chase him down.

In Mexico, these roasted sweet potato carts are a whole thing — you know they’re ready when the vendor releases the pressure and the street fills with loud, high-pitched squeals. That’s the signal. Everyone looks up and starts running over 😂
He roasts them under pressure in this metal cart with drawer compartments that smell intensely like caramelized sugar. The local camotes are starchy, more like the Asian roasted sweet potatoes I’ve had — and these were dry roasted to concentrate the sugars and had a thick, leathery skin. He slices them open to drizzle in sweetened condensed milk, honey, or both. I had to try the most popular version, of course: condensed milk. It was the perfect match.

Now I can’t help comparing them to my weekly home roast — moist garnet sweet potatoes, roasted plain until they leak caramel onto the sheet pan and make the whole house smell sweet. Different textures, different methods, same obsession 🍠

I’ll definitely be tracking this vendor down again… he usually has roasted plantains too, but he was sold out for the night. Something to look forward to.