How to Store Sweet Potatoes that Last All Year
Sweet potatoes storage doesn’t have to be complicated. We kept our fresh sweet potatoes ALL year last year! Here’s how we store sweet potatoes.
You would think by now we would have a root cellar of sorts to store sweet potatoes. But we don’t.
All we have is our basement! And it’s pretty toasty down here in the wintertime with the wood stove heat.
But for the past several years, we’ve managed to store our sweet potatoes without any major issues. Sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes alike, they seem to like the environment of our basement. I’m very thankful for that!
Cool Storage is Optimal for Sweet Potatoes
You’ll of course want to think about storing your potatoes in the best location possible. Our choices were slim so we had no choice but to use the space we had. Turns out the environment was favorable.
As a general rule, you’ll want to store your root veggies in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Maybe this is why the basement is so great.
They’ll need some sort of air circulation. Nothing fancy. And a good practice for keeping taters is to go through them and cull the rotten ones if there are any. That will help keep the rest fresh!
Before You Store the Sweet Potatoes
We dug our sweet potatoes out of the ground, and they actually stayed outside on our porch for a few dry days. The dirt dried, and it was easy to knock off the potatoes.
You don’t want to use water to clean off the potatoes. Just lightly dust off big chunks of dirt, and it’s been ok for us to leave a dusty layer on the potatoes.
Does this somehow help them stay fresh longer? I don’t know! But in our experience, it’s all been good!
So don’t clean the potatoes too good. Just knock off the big hunks of dirt, and dust them off with your hands. Easy.
Choose a Container for Storage
In years past, we’ve used open containers for our sweet potatoes. We’ve used five gallon buckets and cardboard boxes with the lids lightly closed.
This year, we’re trying something a little different. (It actually cost money haha.)
We bought three big plastic totes and stored the sweet potatoes according to size.
Every year our sweet potato crop is so huge, we’ve learned a thing or two. And we decided to be more organized with sizes. So at least this makes it easier when I go to cook them! I won’t have to dig around for the perfect baking size potato!
They will go on the back wall of our basement…where our kitchen happens to be right now.
Keep an Eye on Them
Like I said before, if you notice a rotten potato, throw it out!
I cook sweet potatoes multiple times a week. Opening the lids on the totes a few times a week, and checking around to see any rotten ones will be easy to do.
What Happens if They Start to Sprout?
What if your sweet potatoes start sprouting?
This is ok. Don’t worry. All I do is knock the little sprouts off, and cook like usual.
If you want to save the sprouts and put them in water…you can actually start slips to grow a new sweet potato crop! Is that cool or what? The beautiful little pink sprouts will grow a lovely greenish purplish leaf that will keep on growing. I just stuck them in a coffee mug with water in my window and they continued growing.
Aren’t sweet potatoes amazing?
Anyways, don’t worry if they all start sprouting like crazy in the box. It might happen, because it happened to me.
It honestly didn’t affect the taste or the texture at all! I just let em go and cooked them all year.
Do They Really Last a Whole Year?
I’m not lying! Our sweet potatoes from October 2020 made it right up until we started harvesting this year at the end of September.
We didn’t eat them as often throughout spring and summer because of the other fresher, greener, veggies we had…but they were still good up until the end of summer. Amazing!
So I’m here to tell you, I’m a big fan of our storage solution for our sweet potatoes.
If you’re looking for a simple way to store, I hope this method works for you too.
Remember:
Dry, cool, and dark environment. Resist the urge to clean them with water.
Check taters often to remove any that go bad.
Don’t worry about sprouts.
Any questions about how to store sweet potatoes?
Storing sweet potatoes for the year is a fantastic way to keep farm fresh food available for your family.
What would I do without my beloved sweet potatoes?
If you’re looking for some recipes for sweet potatoes, I got you.
Sweet Potato Reel from Instagram
You may also be interested in more gardening posts! Check out: Cool Weather Crops to Grow in Your Fall Garden
