Starting to wonder, do I have a purple problem? Let’s reframe that – yes, I have a passion for the purple and I will not hide it.

Recently I’ve been in awe at the array of colors from spring produce – everything from golden beets to rainbow carrots and sunset fingerling potatoes. The colors are seriously gorgeous and I get a little thrill when I discover something new, like purple sweet potatoes and a recipe for Purple Soup that takes full advantage of all the purple glory!

Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes (above, second from left) are in season September through April and get their vibrant hue from anthocyanins, antioxidants that color a lot of other deep purple fruits such as blackberries. Purple sweet potatoes are commonly eaten on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where there is a large population of people over the age of 100 and dementia rates 50% lower than in the western world. It’s an unproven hypothesis that the large quantities of purple sweet potatoes in their diet may have something to do with their health and longevity. Are purple sweet potatoes the new secret to youthfulness?

So next question is what to make with these gorgeous and good-for-you potatoes? I’ve also recently been obsessed with purple cauliflower and just happened to get some rainbow carrots in my delivery from Imperfect Produce (see my blog post on this zero waste food delivery company), so was excited to find a recipe for Purple Soup on Del’s Cooking Twist.

You start with the deepest purple produce you can find, which includes Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes, purple cauliflower and purple carrots. If you can’t find purple sweet potatoes, you can also use purple potatoes – just make sure that not only the skin, but also the flesh is purple. Don’t be fooled by Japanese Yams, which have a purple skin, but yellow flesh. Also, if you use red carrots, like the ones shown above ,you’ll get more of a mauve soup. Either way, it will be gorgeous! Check out the recipe below.

Recipe:  Del’s Purple Soup

Ingredients

– 1 purple cauliflower, florets

– 2 large purple sweet potatoes

– 4 medium purple carrots

– 3-4 cups water (+ more as needed)

– ¼ cup cream

– ½ tsp nutmeg, ground

– ¼ tsp cloves, ground

– salt & pepper

– 3 tbsp extra virgin oil

– 2 tbsp thyme, fresh

  

 

Instructions

1. Peel and chop purple sweet potatoes and carrots into about 1-inch chunks.
2. Place them in a large pot together with the cauliflower florets, a pinch of salt, and cover with 3 to 4 cups water.
3. Add to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until vegetables are fork tender.
4. Using a blender, mix the vegetables with the vegetable stock from the cooking.
5. Return the soup to the pot, add the cream, and season with ground black pepper, nutmeg and cloves. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring well and adjusting the seasoning as needed. If the soup is too thick, add more water until desired consistency.
6. Drizzle some extra virgin olive on top, and garnish with fresh thyme.

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