Making HOSHI IMO

 I eat sweet potatoes (not Yam) regularly to help control blood pressure.  I cook it in the microwave at a Potato setting.  Then, while watching a Japanese TV show, this woman side-kick was giving everyone a package of "HOSHI IMO", and that gave me the idea.  HOSHI IMO in Japan is steamed and then dried.  I enjoyed it when I was a child. It's a sweet and chewy treat. The commercial ones are loaded with 'whatever' that are not healthy for us.  Since I have been using the dehydrator to make HOSHI KAKI - dried persimmons, I thought why not make the dried sweet potatoes.  I also wanted to test out the InstaPot pressure cooker.  I normally pressure cook potatoes over my gas stove.  It's done in 3 minutes.   And, so did InstaPot in 4 minutes.  Perfect.

 Scrub the sweet potatoes. Remove any blemishes.  Make a single slit.   I've never used InstaPot before, so instead of 1 C of water, I added 1-1/2 C water for 5 potatoes.  Just to make sure for the first time that there is enough water to make steam.  Set the "Steam Release" valve mechanism to "Sealing" position.  Plug in.  Press STEAM button, Press "-" minus button to reduce the timer to 4 minutes.  Press STEAM again to start - that was scary.  Set my kitchen timer to 4 minutes also for the just in case I am doing it wrong.   I walked away really far.

Once it is cooked, I let it sit for 10+ min to cool.  Set the valve to "Release".  Unlock the lid.  There they are.  Beautiful.

Peel and slice.  Dehydrate.  Hope they will turn out as good as the one sold at the store.

Now, it's a waiting time for the result in a few more hours of drying.  Will they keep well in Mason jar?  Good enough to take along for a hike?  How long will it keep...