Sweet Potato Pone

It was Sir John Hawkins who brought the patates douces, as the Picayune calls them, to England in 1564. By the century following, sweet potato puddings and pies were as common on English tables as lemon creams. The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director (1727–32) gives a pair of recipes for sweet potato pudding that, except for the orange flower water, might appear in today’s collection of prize-winning recipes at a Yambilee.