[upbeat jazz music] I am at the North Asheville Farmer's Market.

You know, when some people travel, they go to the art museums and the music revues.

I do that.

I also go to all the farmer's markets.

It's one of my favorite places to figure out what's going on in a town.

Hey, hey, I know you're busy.

Just wanna say hope you have a good market today, and I cannot wait to cook with you tomorrow.

- Exactly.

- All right.

- Let's do it.

- All right, all right, see ya.

- Oh, yeah, tomorrow, see you tomorrow.

- You bet.

- Okay, bye.

- Bye.

I love it when I come to a market and see people I know, both customers and vendors.

It's kinda like a little family reunion when you come regularly.

That's where you can find some of the varieties you're just not gonna find anywhere else.

And if you're not sure what something is, ask the farmer, 'cause there is nobody better prepared and more eager to talk about the good things they've grown than the person that grew it.

Hey, how you doing?

- Hi, how's it going?

- I'm doing good.

I'm here for sweet potatoes.

Looks like I got the right spot.

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna guess, I think these are Covingtons.

Are these Covingtons?

- [Vendor] Yes, they are, yeah.

- But what I don't know is what these are, with the purple skin, and it looks like white flesh.

- No, these are purple flesh.

- Are they really?

- Yeah.

- Oh, I gotta have a couple of these.

- They're delicious.

- What is this on the other side?

Is that an Asian variety, or what is that one?

- Yeah, this is a Japanese sweet potato.

Maybe a little less sweet than your traditional orange flesh one.

- That's, to me, they're always a little drier and a little less sweet.

- Yep.

- Okay, let me get one more of these guys.

And shall I put it up here?

- Mhm.

Good luck with them.

- I always find..

Thank you.

- Do you know what you're making?

- I got some notions.

Notions and ideas, but I'm not entirely sure, but, yeah, I know they'll be good.

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Yep, enjoy.

- See ya.

- See ya.

- So look at these.

This is my farmer's market haul.

Look at how many different varieties I got.

When I get a sweet potato I've never had before, that's what I do, I roast one and taste it and see what it's like compared to other sweet potatoes I've had.

Now, this one is probably like what a lot of us are used to, a good standard orange.

It'll work in anything.

But look at this one.

It is going to be the color of like the outside of an eggplant or like a berry.

And you know, it holds this color when you cook it.

You can make a sweet potato pie with this that nobody will believe that that's what it is on the inside.

And here's another one.

One that's kind of new to me is the whole category of white sweet potatoes.

But it's actually one of the oldest kinds of sweet potatoes around.

Inside, it has completely white, creamy flesh.

And I found it's a little bit drier, a little bit sweeter.

I love these things.

Now, what am I gonna do when I get all these home?

Well, I'll tell ya.

I'm not gonna wash 'em, because, although you don't want clumps of dirt on 'em, you wanna leave a little bit of dirt on 'em because it's a natural protectant that's gonna make them last longer.

So don't wash 'em until right before you're going to cook them.

All of these are sweet potatoes.

But you know what none of them are?

Yams.

But really, a yam is a completely different vegetable.

We're keeping these on the sweet side of potato, good old sweet taters.

[upbeat music]