Harvesting & Storing Sweet Potatoes

Grilled, fried, mashed or made into a pie, sweet potatoes are a delicious and nutritious vegetable.

These tropical natives thrive in warm summer temperatures. Harvest when they start reaching the desired size or right after a light frost kills the leaves. Don’t leave them in the ground as cold wet soils can damage the roots.

Carefully dig the tuberous roots. Gently rub off any soil that clings to the roots and allow them to dry on the soil surface in the garden for a few hours.

Save only the damage-free tuberous roots for storage. Cure these in a warm place about 80 to 85 degrees for 7 to 10 days. This helps seal any surface wounds and toughens the skin to reduce drying during storage.

After curing move to a cool location like a basement where temperatures hover at 55 to 60 degrees and the humidity is high.

A bit more information: One medium baked sweet potato with the skin is 100 calories and provides about 377% of the Daily Vitamin A. You can burn those 100 calories by walking 28 minutes, jogging for 11 or swimming for 8 minutes.