2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The sweet potato, known as sweet potato, is still an exotic root vegetable for us. Nevertheless, it appears on store shelves more and more often, and more and more people write about the benefits of this unique vegetable. And so we finally decide to purchase it, but we immediately face the question of how to properly store it. Still, we have little experience in storing thermophilic sweet potatoes yet
When to collect?
Sweet potatoes are harvested in dry weather before the onset of frost - if they are harvested in the rain, they will be stored much worse. And if some tubers were damaged during harvest, then they must be used as a priority.
Whether or not to wash the dug out sweet potato is up to everyone to decide for himself (both options are perfectly acceptable). If a decision was made to wash the tubers, it is important to try not to damage their skin - it is very thin in freshly dug root crops. Sweet potatoes are usually washed with warm water - cold water can adversely affect the keeping quality of tubers. And for storage, only whole and healthy specimens are selected.
How to prepare for storage?
Preparing sweet potatoes for subsequent storage is optional. Nevertheless, this procedure has a beneficial effect not only on the duration, but also on the quality of storage of tubers. Moreover, it allows you to improve both the marketability and taste of these wonderful vegetables.
How to prepare sweet potatoes for the upcoming storage? After all the tubers are dug out, they must be kept for four to six days in a room with a temperature of twenty-eight to thirty-two degrees and a humidity of 80 to 90%. That is, in fact, the so-called "bathhouse" is organized on the sweet potato. And after this time, the tubers are transferred to suitable containers prepared in advance and sent for storage.
How to store?
Sweet potatoes are best preserved at temperatures between thirteen and sixteen degrees. And the ideal relative humidity for storage is 85 - 90%.
If you store sweet potatoes at temperatures below ten to twelve degrees, then there is a high probability that the harvested tubers will quickly deteriorate and begin to rot. And if the thermometer rises above twenty-twenty-two degrees, then the sweet potato will begin to sprout. It is undesirable to store these vegetables at air humidity below 50% or above 90%.
Depending on the quantity, sweet potatoes can be stored in wooden or plastic boxes, as well as in sturdy boxes or on shelves. In this case, you can wrap the roots in paper, or you can sprinkle them with dry sand, hay, sawdust or straw.
Approximately until mid-February, the cherished tubers can be stored in cool rooms, only in this case, all the sweet potatoes should be placed in boxes with sawdust or sand - in such conditions, this useful vegetable will remain dormant and, accordingly, will not germinate. And as soon as the boxes are in a warm place, it will immediately begin to sprout. If the sweet potato has already sprouted, you can turn this situation to your advantage and start grafting it - this is how the sweet potato is grown in our latitudes (if you plant tubers, they do not have time to yield a crop). And a certain part of the sprouted tubers can also be used for food - unlike everyone's favorite potato, no toxic substances are formed in the sprouted sweet potato.
It is extremely important to make sure that there are no mice in the room where you plan to store the sweet potato, otherwise they will get the most delicious tubers.
As for storage in the refrigerator, this method of storing sweet potatoes is categorically inappropriate. The same can be said for the cellars.
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