Candied yams are one of the most popular vegetables at Alcenia’s restaurant. One bite of these syrupy sweet potatoes, and you will know why.

“In the South, this dish has several names: candied yams, sweet potatoes or simply yams,” Alcenia’s owner B.J. Chester-Tamayo said.

Chester-Tamayo runs her 28-year-old soul food restaurant in the Pinch District of Downtown Memphis with lots of love, and it shows in her hospitality and her food. She’ll be the first to tell you, “You may walk in a stranger, but you leave as family.”

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And most of the dishes she serves are tried-and-true family recipes that originated from her childhood in Meridian, Mississippi.

Chester-Tamayo said that to this day, she makes candied yams just like her mother did.

“Mama always said never, I do mean never, put water in sweet potatoes,” Chester-Tamayo said. 

The yams make their own syrupy sauce as they cook with the other ingredients.

For seasoning, her mother took the time to toast whole nutmeg, and then grind it herself.

And like her mother, Chester-Tamayo only uses real butter and pure vanilla.

“My mama believed in the best ingredients for her food, no shortcuts. So that’s what I do at Alcenia’s,” Chester-Tamayo said.

Alcenia’s Candied Yams

Ingredients:
8 medium to large sweet potatoes
½ cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons ground nutmeg
3 ½ cups sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into slices

Directions:
Wash, peel and slice sweet potatoes into about ½-inch thick pieces.

In the bottom of a medium-sized pot, add half of the brown sugar, vanilla extract, nutmeg, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Add the potatoes and then top with the remaining ingredients.

Cook the yams over medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are done.

Note: If the heat is too high, it will cause the yams to stick.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings