Teachers & Kids
Meet Yamster the Hamster!
Hey there, hello and how do you do? My name is Yamster and I’m a hamster, but no ordinary hamster and that’s for sure. I go to school and play with my friends. I like baseball and soccer. But the thing that makes me the happiest hamster on earth is yummy sweet potatoes on my plate!
Sweet potatoes are also called yams. They can be baked with marshmallows on top, fried until they are crispy like chips, and even made into desserts. My mom makes muffins, bread and pancakes with yams! When I eat those yummy yams, I am a happy, happy hamster boy.
Do you like yams? I bet that if you tried them, you might like them as much as me. First of all, whoever named them “sweet potatoes” was right as right can be. They are as sweet as candy, and when you bake them, the syrupy sugar oozes right out. It’s also fun to eat something that is as orange as a pumpkin on the inside and shaped like a football.
Mom and dad say eating sweet potatoes is good for me. It must be true. After a serving of sweet potatoes, I can spin my exercise wheel for hours and hours. (Time for some new sneakers!) I’ll even pick up my room, take out the trash or play with my little sister for another helping of yams.
I spend lots of time trying to find sweet potatoes. Once I climbed an oak tree, but could not find any yams there. I put my mud boots on and went down by the bayou, but I didn’t see any yams there, either. Of course, the easiest way to find my favorite food is to go to the grocery store, because fresh yams and canned yams can be found there all year ‘round.
In school, I learned that living in Louisiana makes me the luckiest hamster in the world. That’s because our farmers grow tons and tons of sweet potatoes every year! So I travel across Louisiana looking for new ways to prepare my favorite orange treat. I can smell a tender yam being cooked for miles and miles and miles. So if your mom or dad or aunt or grandmother makes yams for dinner, you’d better keep your eyes on the window. I might be paying you a visit. (If you could spare some yams for me, I sure would appreciate it.)
Well, I have to go now. I wonder if you can guess what I’m going to try to find? I hope you’ll come back here again and read about yams with me. We’ll have lots of fun learning about the yummiest vegetable in the world.
And remember what I always say: “Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!”
Yamster’s Birthday
Hi everyone! It’s Yamster the Hamster and I have another exciting sweet potato story for you! Last month was my birthday and mom and dad had an awesome birthday party for me. We got to ice and decorate our own sweet potato cupcakes and I got to help dad make sweet potato chips as party favors for all my pals! It was such a blast!
The day before my big birthday party, mom and I started working in the kitchen. I decided that instead of having a huge birthday cake, I wanted sweet potato cupcakes that we could each decorate on our own. And even more exciting, mom let me help her mix up the cupcakes!
First, we measured out all of the dry ingredients and put them into the bowl. Next, mom opened two cans of sweet potatoes and helped me measure two cups. We added them into the big bowl along with the eggs and stirred it until everything was mixed together. Then, we poured the batter into little cups and put them into the oven. Those cupcakes smelled so yummy while they were baking!
While the cupcakes were baking, dad and I started to make the sweet potato chips for the party favors. I helped him pick out and wash the perfect fresh sweet potatoes and then dad cut them up into pieces and cooked them. He let me sprinkle salt on them and even let me snack on some of them! They were the yummiest chips in the whole wide world!
The next day, all of my best pals arrived at my house for my birthday party. Mom gave us each a sweet potato cupcake and we decorated them all by ourselves. My cupcake had white icing and blueberries on top! Everyone thought they were yummy, especially me. Soon, it was time for everyone to go home. Dad let me pass out the party favor bags of sweet potato chips and most of my pals were already eating them before they left our house! It was the best birthday party I have ever had.
Well pals, all this story telling has made my tummy growl. It’s just about time for my snack and I am so happy that we have some leftover sweet potato chips! I hope you will come back and read about another one of my adventures. And as always, remember to live the Yamster way: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
Yamster’s Baking Contest
Hey everyone! Yamster the Hamster here, and I have another exciting story to share with all of you. Last week my school had a baking contest for moms and kids. Mom and I entered and made some yummy yam recipes that earned us a first place ribbon!
Last week when I came home from school, I told mom and dad about the cool news my teacher had told us. There was going to be a baking contest for moms and kids on Saturday morning. Each group was supposed to make two items, one for kids and one for moms. Mom said that she would love to do it and we started looking at recipes right away.
“Well, Yamster, do you have any ideas about what you want to make?” Mom asked.
“Yes! Can we make something with my favorite vegetable, sweet potatoes? They are just so yummy and sweet!” I said.
“Sure thing! Why don’t we make sweet potato brownies for the kids and sweet potato praline coffee cake for the moms?” Mom replied.
“Let’s get started!” I said.
First mom and I gathered all of the ingredients we would need for the brownies and coffee cake. We decided that we would make the brownies first. We mixed the butter and sugar, added the dry ingredients and finally added the grated sweet potatoes. Then we popped it into the oven and made the icing to go on top. The sweet potato brownies smelled so good I could hardly wait to taste one! After we finished those, we started on the coffee cake. This recipe was a little harder, so mom had to do most of the work. She made a sweet potato cake and then drizzled some yummy praline sauce on top. Oh, and I saw her sneak a bite when she thought no one was looking!
The next morning we went down to my school with our sweet potato brownies and coffee cake. We put them down at our table and walked around and looked at everyone else’s dishes. Theirs looked and smelled good, but they were no comparison to our sweet potato desserts! Soon, the judging started. A couple of hours later they announced that they had picked a winner. Everyone grew quiet with excitement and waited for the judge’s decision. Guess who they picked?? That’s right! Mom and me! They said that they loved both the brownies for kids and the coffee cake for moms because they tasted great and were healthy, too. I was so excited to win a first place ribbon.
Well, boys and girls, telling that exciting story made me kind of tired. I think I am going to take a nap and maybe when I wake up, mom will let me have a sweet potato brownie for a snack! I hope that you come back soon and read another exciting story. And as always, remember to live the Yamster way: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
Yamster’s Sweet Potato Town Festival
Hi, boys and girls! How is everyone doing? It’s Yamster the Hamster here and I am so excited to see you back here! You should be excited, too, because I have a great story to tell you about the town festival that I went to today.
Every summer, our town has a great big Sweet Potato Festival. At the festival there are games, rides and tons of yummy food. Mom, dad and I go every year and it is always my very favorite weekend! This year, the rides and games were so cool. My favorite ride was called the Flying Sweet Potato. It had giant sweet potatoes that you could climb into. They were bright orange on the inside, just like a real sweet potato! After fastening your safety belt, it went around and around! It was awesome! Mom was scared, so dad rode it with me.
After the Flying Sweet Potato ride we walked over to where the games were located. They had all kinds! We watched a sweet potato pie-eating contest. It looked like so much fun, but mom and dad said I was too little to join in. Oh well, maybe next year! The next game we watched was a sweet potato sack race. It’s when you put your legs in a sweet potato sack and hop like a bunny to the finish line. Everyone looked so silly when they were hopping.
Just watching all those games made us hungry, so we walked to the food booths to see what kind of goodies they had. I was so excited when I saw the assortment of Sweet Potato treats! They had sweet potato and turkey wraps, yam salad, yam and shrimp soup, sweet potato casserole, and all sorts of other things. I decided on the sweet potato and turkey wrap. But I couldn’t wait to pick out my dessert. There were so many to choose from! There were sweet potato praline coffee cakes, sweet potato cupcakes, yam pudding cups and many others. I chose the sweet potato walnut banana bread. It was so yummy!
After we ate, the sun started to set and we went home. It was another fun and exciting year at the Sweet Potato Festival. Well, it’s almost my bedtime so I have to go. But I hope to see you back again, and always remember to live the Yamster way: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
Yamster Visits the Sweet Potato Farm
Sometimes I’m so sleepy in the morning that it’s hard to get out of bed. But when mom and dad told me we were going to visit a sweet potato farm, I was up before the sun! I wanted to learn everything about those yummy yams — and hopefully get some to eat!
We left really early in the morning so we could spend as much time as possible at Mr. French’s sweet potato farm in South Louisiana. He grows great big sweet potatoes for people to eat in Louisiana … all over the country … and even the world. The first thing he did when we got there was to show us some sweet potatoes he just harvested. They are called “Beauregards” and they are big and moist with bright orange flesh. Some of them were even bigger than me!
Next, Mr. French gave us some neat rubber boots, and we all went out into the field. He explained that the process from planting a young sweet potato sprout to putting sweet potatoes on our table takes about 6 months. The first thing he does is to plant sweet potato seed roots in soil beds that have not been used for planting for at least three years. This helps make sure that there are no diseases or bugs left over from the last planting. After the seed roots are planted, Mr. French and his wife find a big field on the farm for growing the actual sweet potatoes.
After the seed roots sprout up in the beds, Mr. French finds plants that are between 8 and 12 inches long and have more than 8 leaves. He makes sure there are no insects on them, and then he cuts them above the soil level. He takes these plants and “transplants” them in the field where the actual sweet potatoes will grow. This usually happens in May and June. I thought that after the sweet potatoes were planted in the big field, the farmer could take it easy for awhile. Boy, was I ever wrong! Mr. French told us about all the things you have to watch out for while the yams are growing — plant diseases, insects, weeds and even frost. He is a really hard-working farmer.
We learned a lot that morning. Then Mr. French invited us inside to have a delicious lunch with his family. Mmmmmm! Everywhere I looked there was food made with yummy yams! There were baked ones, crunchy sweet potato chips, creamy yam pudding, and they even served sweet potato cookies with milk. I made sure to try everything. Then they gave us a sweet potato pie to take home!
After lunch we went back into the field to talk about how the yams are harvested. Mom asked Mr. French how he knows when the sweet potatoes are ready. This is kind of tricky because yams don’t get ripe like other crops. They will keep growing as long as the plant has green leaves. Most farmers know that after 120 to 150 days, it is time to pull the yams from the ground before the dangerous winter frosts arrive. Farm machines dig them up, and the workers place them in wooden or plastic crates to be taken to the warehouse.
I really want to tell you about what happens to the yams after they are pulled from the ground, but it has been a long day at the sweet potato farm and I need a great big hamster nap! You can find out what happens by reading my story called “Bringing Sweet Potatoes to Your Table.”
And remember, if you want to grow up big and strong, do what I do: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
Bringing Sweet Potatoes to Your Table
Hey, buddies! It’s Yamster the Hamster again with another super sweet potato story. Back in October, my mom and dad took me to Mr. French’s sweet potato farm in South Louisiana. That’s a trip I’ll never forget! But if you read my story about that visit, you might be wondering what happens to all of those sweet potatoes after they are taken from the ground. Well, keep reading, because I’m going to tell you all about it.
After the farmer digs up the sweet potatoes, the workers collect them. This is a very important time because the workers will also separate the yams into different sizes: big ones and small ones. Why do they do this? Just keep reading!
Once all these wonderful sweet potatoes are gathered and sorted, it’s time to take them to the storage house where they are “cured.” Curing is a process that helps the sweet potatoes heal from any cuts, bruises or places where the skin was removed by accident. The temperature in the storage house is about 85 degrees, and the air is very moist (about 90 or 95 percent humidity). After they are cured, the sweet potatoes are stored in a cooler place of about 55 or 60 degrees, the temperature of a nice fall day. The coolness helps them keep their weight up without sprouting or becoming dry and tough. Finally, the sweet potatoes are washed and checked to make sure they are good enough for you and me to eat. Then they are packed in boxes so they can take a ride on a big truck to get closer to our tables.
The farmer usually sells his yams according to their size. This is why the workers sorted the potatoes by size. The bigger yams are delivered whole to grocery stores, vegetable markets, restaurants and other food dealers. These are called “fresh” sweet potatoes. They are the kind you see at the store next to regular potatoes. They are the ones you can bake in the oven, or grill on the barbecue or cook lots of other ways. Fresh Louisiana Yams are delivered across the country to end up on the tables of thousands of families just like yours.
The farmer sells his smaller sweet potatoes to food companies, where they are turned into many different products. Some yams are canned, sometimes in a yummy sweet syrup. You can find them in the can in slices or chunks, or even whipped like mashed potatoes. Others will be formed into patties and frozen. Still more yams will be sliced very thin and fried to make sweet potato chips! But it doesn’t stop there. These tasty sweet potatoes are also turned into mixes for biscuits, muffins and pancakes. Have you ever had sweet potato pancakes? Ask an adult to make them for you. They can buy the pancake mix — and all of these other wonderful sweet potato products — at their favorite grocery store.
So you see, once the sweet potatoes are harvested in the field, it still takes a while before they make it to your plate. A lot of men and women work very hard to make sure you get the freshest, tastiest yams possible.
No matter how you like your yummy yams, remember to live the Yamster way: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
Lots More Yams In Store!
Hi, folks! What a great day it is, because today my mom took me shopping with her. As soon as we got into the grocery store, I ran over to where all of the fresh fruits and vegetables are to get a look at my favorite food: big, plump and yummy yams!
I was helping mom pick out some sweet potatoes for dinner when she asked me if I knew where else we could find some yams in the store. I scratched my head and said, “Hmm, I don’t think so.”
“Okay, Yamster,” mom said, “we’re going for a ride!”
She strapped me into the shopping cart and off we went — up and down nearly every row in the store — and boy was I surprised at what we found! Our first stop was the bakery section, where the bakers were taking fresh-baked sweet potato cookies, cakes and pies out of the oven. It smelled so good — and they even gave me a cookie to taste!
Next we went to where they sell potato chips. I had never thought to look for sweet potato chips before. Yep! There they were … regular sweet potato chips with salt, and even sweet cinnamon sweet potato chips! (Mmmm!) On the next row over, we saw all kinds of mixes for sweet potato pancakes, muffins, biscuits, cakes and cookies. Mom said all you have to do is add water or milk and sometimes eggs to cook all of these yummy-yammy treats. We got some pancake mix with blueberries to have for breakfast on Saturday.
Our last stop was the canned vegetables row. There were lots and lots of different kinds of sweet potatoes there … candied yams, mashed sweet potatoes, whole potatoes in thick and sugary syrup, cut ones in orange pineapple sauce, and even sweet potato pie filling. Every time I saw a new can it was more amazing than the last one. The people who grow sweet potatoes are really smart. They know how to turn my favorite food into all kinds of delicious treats.
My Uncle Clifford once told me that you learn something new every day — and you know what? He was right! On my shopping trip I learned that there are yummy yams all over the grocery store. The next time you go shopping with your mom, see how many different kinds of yams you can find!
Making Sweets, Treats and Other Yammy Things to Eat
Hi there friends, Yamster the Hamster here. Do you ever like to watch your mom cook in the kitchen? It’s one of my favorite things to do!
One day I was watching my mom make a great big sweet potato pie when she said to me, “Okay, Mr. Yamster, how would you like to learn to make yummy treats with sweet, juicy yams?”
“Wow!” I said. “That would be awesome!”
So mom put her pie into the oven and took out a great big paper bag full of fresh and canned sweet potatoes. She took some of the fresh yams out of the bag, and they looked just like when we picked them down at Mr. French’s farm. Mom said that when she buys yams at the grocery store, she looks for the ones that are really smooth, plump, dry and clean. When she brings them home, she keeps them in cool, dry place, like our cupboard — but she told me it’s not good to put yams in the refrigerator unless they are cooked. My mom really knows a lot about yams!
The next thing we did was open the canned yams and cut up some fresh yams. Well, it was really just mom, because only grown-ups should use sharp knives in the kitchen. It’s so cool to see the bright orange insides of the yam. Mom said that she uses a stainless steel knife to cut them because they will stay orange and not turn brown. I was getting hungry and we hadn’t even started cooking yet!
Then mom said, “Alright, so what would you like to make?” She showed me some recipes for all different kinds of delicious sweet potato snacks and dishes. They all sounded so good that it was hard to decide! So we talked about it and we decided to make an all-sweet potato dinner for the whole family! My dad and my sister like sweet potatoes just like me, so I knew that would make them happy.
My mom showed me how to make every dish we would be serving. Some of them were sweet. Some of them were spicy. We made a salad where the yams were cold and firm, and we also made a side dish of hot, mashed sweet potatoes. We baked some yams, roasted some and boiled some. We even had sweet potato biscuits to go with everything. There’s so much you can do with yams in the kitchen it’s really amazing.
Having an all sweet potato dinner was like my dream come true! Then we finished it all off with mom’s yummy sweet potato pie with whipped cream and a tall glass of milk.
Take it from me, cooking sweet potatoes is really, really fun! In fact, there are lots of tasty yam recipes right here on this Website. Just click on the title under “Kids’ Corner” that says “kid recipes.” Ask your mom to help you in the kitchen. She’ll be glad to teach you all about cooking delicious, nutritious yams.
And remember, if you want to grow up big and strong, do what I do: Eat your sweet potatoes and have a yam-tastic day!
A Yam’s Journey from the Farm to Your Family
A couple of weeks ago I got to thinking. I had been to Mr. French’s sweet potato farm last year and learned all about how they grow those yummy yams. Then my mom took me to the grocery store and I saw all kinds of sweet potatoes in cans on the shelves … but there was something missing. How in the world did they get from the farm to the store and in those cans?
When I can’t figure stuff out I ask my mom or dad, so I talked to them about it. They said that when the sweet potatoes leave the farm they go to great big places called “canning plants.” They even said that if I ate all of my dinner, we could go visit TWO canning plants. We were having scrumptious sweet potatoes that night so you can bet I finished every bite!
The first canning plant we went to was called Bruce Foods. A really nice man met my family and we got to take a tour of the whole place. It was so cool! The first thing I learned is that when the sweet potatoes come in on the big trucks, they are still dirty from the fields, so they get washed off with hot water. Then they get peeled — but not with a potato peeler like mom uses. They get peeled with really hot steam, even hotter than the shower at home. The steam just blows the peelings right off! Without their peelings, the yams are very bright orange, and it was neat to see pounds and pounds of them going down the big belt. People called “inspectors” check to make sure that all the sweet potatoes are clean and good enough for us to eat. Then the yams get sorted into different sizes, because the big ones are put into cans either whole or in slices or chunks. The smallest pieces get made into mashed sweet potatoes and yam pie filling.
The other canning plant we visited that day was the Allen Canning Company. My favorite part of that plant was the big machine that cuts up the sweet potatoes and puts them into different sized cans. Some of the yams in cans go swimming in sugary syrup and others are drenched in tasty sauces like orange-pineapple. After the yam cans are filled up, lids are put on the cans and they go off to get cooked in large pressure cookers. That’s right — they cook those yummy yams right in the cans! After the cans cool down, the machines put labels on them, just like you see in the store. Then all the cans get packed into big boxes and carried out to the loading dock. The day we were there, we saw at least five big trucks loading up with boxes and boxes of my favorite food in the whole world!
It was really great to see what happens to all those yams when they leave the farms. Later that day when we were driving home, we passed by my mom’s favorite grocery store. Sure as shooting, I saw one of those big trucks delivering sweet potatoes right to the store — and I was very happy because I learned EXACTLY how they got there!