Post Punk Kitchen Forum

We grew Beauregard sweet potatoes in my boyfriend's parents' garden (well, really they grew them for us). We dug them up this weekend and they turned out pretty well. Now we aren't sure how best to store them, though. I've googled it and am getting conflicting information. Does anyone have any advice? We have a one story house without a basement, so storing them in a cool basement isn't an option for us.

We usually keep ours in a drawer in the kitchen. They last several weeks, but I have had one go bad after ~2 months.

a professor of mine grew all her own food and she showed us the room in here house where she kept her barrels of sweet potatoes. she said after she picked them she kept them in a warm room maybe 80 degrees for a few days or weeks or something and then kept them cool after that.

If you want to keep them for a long time, then yes, they need to be cured at warm temps and high humidity. If you don't have a warm spot you can cure them at room temp but it takes longer. If you are planning on eating them sooner, it may not be as much of an issue. However, I think I have read that the flavor develops better if they have been cured. Mine are currently curing in the car trunk, but I may have to bring them in because it is going to get cold here tonight.

I've never heard of curing them before! Neat! So all you do is let them be warm for a while, then keep cool? Is that only for home-grown or do you need to do that with the ones from farmers markets/grocery stores too? How do you tell when they're cured?

I would assume that grocery store sweet potatoes have already been cured, and probably also those at the farmers' markets.

Here is a short write up from Purdue University with the details.