Isn't it fantastic to have nutritious healthy and sweet snack handy with you wherever you go. Hoshiimo is the dried sweet potato, the traditional Japanese sweets, which is dried so that its sweetness has been concentrated and no seasoning added. No artificial ingredients, no sugar, 100% natural vegetable. Doesn't sound so nice?
To tell the truth, I didn't like a dried sweet potato when I was a kid, 40 years ago, because I thought it taste like a piece of wood with so much fiber, in other words, please imagine some vegetative beef jerky without any flavor. I used to greatly disappointed in being served it during a snack break instead of actual tasty "snacks". As a boy of not-very-rich-family who was playing outside all the time, I was surely hungry but it only helped me distracting from feeling hunger. Every time I see them I felt disappointed, miserable and really admired sweet snacks.
However, things have been changed over the years. Dried sweet potato is now a luxury and healthy food, believe it or not. Like I said I wasn't the big fan of it and never even imagined one of the worst snacks of my history could ever be highly promoted like today. That hard and tough chewy texture has transformed to a nice tender one by a semi-drying process which keeps it soft. I guess that an aseptic sealing technique to prevent mold from growing has improved drastically, and it enables manufacturers to deliver perishable one to our table. Moreover, the breeding of sweet potatoes improved the taste to sweeter. Sweetness is more condensed by the drying process.
Unfortunately, it costs high. Dozen of semi-dried pieces take about 10 dollars. I never feel poor and miserable anymore, on the contrary, even feel good for my health by taking non-additive and natural foods. It's fun to think about evolution of familiar food, isn't it!
While I was writing this article, I’ve come to think this may be the good wake up call for me to review what I eat and shift to healthy nutritious way!
