9

OK, so, I just harvested my first batch of sweet potatoes:

(Holy crap, there are few things as satisfying as going on a treasure hunt in the dirt and pulling out a big ole hunk-o'-dinner!)

But...now what? I'm just a novice gardener and confess that I still don't really know what I'm doing.

Do I brush off the dirt, or will that bruise them further? Can I rinse them off and set them out to dry or will they mold?

I've read that sweet potatoes need to "cure" for a few weeks to let the enzymes activate and get all those good natural sugars cookin' up -- well, I don't have anywhere in the house kept at 80 degrees with 90% humidity. I can still cook em and eat em, right?

There are also a few bug holes (no pesticides, nothing); the holes aren't too deep, I can cut around them to get the good stuff. But how bad is that?

How will these keep?

Do I need to spend all weekend baking pies and chips? Lol

Community
  • 1
AndrewG
  • 543
  • 4
  • 9

3 Answers3

5

The county extension always gave the advice to keep them in a warm humid environment. I don't have the ideal location, but I took the advice of my neighbor with good results: keep them in your bathroom with a pot of water nearby and do not vent the heat from showering. After a couple weeks store them in your pantry and cut the bad spots off only when ready to clean & cook them. The bad spots are normal and will not cause an issue as long as they are removed. Another friend puts them by her wood stove with some water nearby to increase humidity.

Congrats on the harvest!

Ann Addicks
  • 605
  • 1
  • 5
  • 8
3

There are two links below - the first one says you need to cure them at 80/90 deg F, the second one, to do with freezing sweet potatoes, suggests you can and should store them for a week in cooler (55-60 deg F) temperatures, and then cook and freeze them. I imagine the difference in the advice is to do with long term storage as opposed to preparing to freeze them.

As for the insect holes, yes, cut those out when you're preparing to cook them, but make sure there isn't something actually living in the potato (if you chop them up, you'll find it, but if you're cooking them whole and there's just a tunnel, follow it to the end to make sure).

http://www.almanac.com/plant/sweet-potato

http://www.pickyourown.org/freezing_sweetpotato.htm

Bamboo
  • 135,647
  • 3
  • 80
  • 169
3

You can also cook some candy, sweet potato candy is one of my favorite dessert when fall.

Sweet Potato Candy Recipe

  • 2 pounds of washed and same sized clean potatoes
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 pound of sugar
  • 2 cinnamon sticks

Preparation:

Put the sweet potatoes, the water and cinnamon in a cooking pot and cook for 30 mins. Melt the sugar apart and add it to the cooking pot and cook 30 mins more.

I love to smash some sweet potato candy in a plate and add some of its honey an milk.

enter image description here

Also you can see more info here, in my country are called 'Dulces de Camote' and I'm sure that you can find many other recipes to cook different variety of Sweet Potato Candies.

Alexander Leon VI
  • 436
  • 2
  • 8