Then, they mash the potatoes and mix them with sugar and sweet potato starch to form a dough. Next, they roll the dough into a long tube about 1 inch thick and cut the log into small cubes. They roll each cube into a small ball and then put them into a big pot of hot oil. While the sweet potato balls are cooking, they push down on them with a special tool that's shaped like a dome with holes in it. Each time they press them, the oil goes through the holes in the dome and the sweet potato balls get a little bigger. When they're crispy and golden brown, they take the sweet potato balls out of the oil and add flavorings like salt, pepper, plum powder, or powdered sugar.
One of the schools that I teach at is in a rural area, so there are lots of farm fields nearby. Every year, the students learn about plants and farming by growing and harvesting their own sweet potatoes around the school. Sweet potatoes are a major crop in Taiwan, especially where I live in Yunlin County. In fact, I learned that Taiwan produces enough sweet potatoes in one year to go around Earth 31 times. That's a lot of potatoes! Since the potatoes are grown locally, sweet potato balls are not only delicious, but they also help support farmers in the community and connect us to the land we live on. Pretty sweet, right?
