The following basics on how to buy sweet potatoes, and how to cook or store sweet potatoes are helpful tips.
There are many ways to cook sweet potato: baked, boiled, candied, fried, grilled, mashed, pan-roasted, twice-baked. Find recipes for all of the ways to cook sweet potato.
Baked sweet potatoes are simply the best! Bake for about an hour at 375 degrees. Before baking, prick the spuds with a fork and wrap in foil. The foil will hold in the natural juices as the sweet potatoes carmelize. Yummy!!!
Canned sweet potatoes are pre-cooked, so add them at, or towards, the end of a recipe.
Cook sweet potatoes immediately after cutting and/or peeling; contact with air makes raw sweet potato flesh turn dark.
To slow down oxidation (darkening of the flesh) place peeled and/or cut sweet potatoes in a bowl or pot and keep them covered with water until you're ready to cook them.
Cooking makes the sweet potato's nutrients (e.g., beta carotene which the body converts to Vitamin A) bioavailable (easier for the body to absorb).
Boil sweet potatoes before peeling; skins slip off easily after they are done cooking.
Select sweet potatoes that are:
Clean, blemish-free, decay-free, dry, smooth, and firm
One decayed area can spoil (transfer an awful favor to) the whole sweet potato; cutting it away won't help - so, don't buy it!
Do not refrigerate uncooked sweet potatoes
Refrigeration of uncooked sweet potatoes makes them starchy (their natural sugars turn to starch)
Store in a cool, dry area for up to about 7 days (they have a shorter home shelf life than white potatoes)
Store at 55-65 degrees F
Learn how to freeze raw sweet potatoes and other fresh vegetables and produce
Use a stainless steel knife when cutting; carbon blades make sweet potatoes turn dark
One medium 6-oz size cooked sweet potato equals about one cup of canned ones.
Sweet potatoes can be served in numerous ways: as listed above, diced and sliced for veggie trays, as snack chips, blended into a smoothie, as juice, etc.
Also, they go well with coconut, nuts and fruits, and spices like allspice, cinnamon, coriander, ginger and nutmeg.
Sweet potatoes can be an ingredient in many dishes including: casseroles, desserts (pies, cakes, puddings, cookies), breads, dips, salads, sauces, snacks, souffles, soups, and on and on . . .
Check out Sweet Jazmine's award-winning baked goodies including sweet potato muffins, pies, cakes and cheesecakes.
You can shop online and order from the pastry shop through its website.
Click below to search for thousands of FREE easy sweet potato recipes!
Do you have a great sweet potato recipe? Share it!
Go to All-About-Sweet-Potatoes.com Home Page from Buying and Cooking Sweet Potatoes
Heirloom Sweet Potatoes
Amish White Bunch
Betty’s
Brinkley White
Edna Evans
Frazier White
Ginseng Red
Golden Slipper
Hayman
Indiana Gold
Ivis White Cream
Korean Purple
Magoffin
Margaret Bray
Maynard Family White
Millard Cooper
Nancy Hall
Old Brazil
Old Fashioned Southern Queen
Old Kentucky
Old Orange
Orange Oakleaf
Poplar Root
Pumpkin Yam
Qualls
Red Wine Velvet
Ringley’s Porto Rico
Sharp
Spanish Red
Stevenson
Tennessee Top Mark
Theodore Meece Old Fashioned White
Violetta
Wakenda
White Yam
Willowleaf
Yellow Jersey
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