Pat, I would try to store them anyway. I lay mine on a self in a cool, dark
room.

Once they are cured, they cant be stored in a cold place. If they get 50
degrees F. or cooler, the sugar turns back into starch. My room stays
between 70 and 75 degrees F and I still have some I grew last summer (2002).
They have been down on the shelf for nearly a year. I have a friend that
puts them in a square plastic case that holds 4 gallons of milk. The holes
are small enough to hold the potatoes, and big enough to let the air
circulate around them. Mine just lay on a shelf on the wall in one of the
rooms we use for storage.

To cure them, wash them off when you dig them and ideally, lay them on
something out of the sun in 80 degrees F, and 80 percent humidity for 10
days. If you cant get the warmth and humidity amounts I stated, it will
take an additional week or so to cure them.

The smaller ones taste better than the larger ones. I give away or sell the
big ones after setting aside about 15 to 20 for next years "slips".

To cook them, I wash them again, cut off any bad spots, rub cooking oil on
them, roll them in tinfoil and bake them at 350 for an hour (longer of they
are big). When they are done, I skin and eat them. They are sweet enough I
don't have to add sugar and moist enough I don't have to add butter (I am an
overweight diabetic).

Maybe you have a friend or some relation that would give you a portion of a
storage room in their basement. (Give them the big ones and they will love
you.)

Dwayne





wrote in message
...

Thinking ahead to next year's garden...

Both my husband and I very much like sweet potatoes.
They've become awfully expensive though. And I detest the
commercial 'canned yams' - awful sugar-laden objects that
look like...well, never mind what they look like.

OK, so assume I grow them next year.

How can I preserve them?

The usual way - just keep in a cool, dry place - is out.

I don't have a cool dry place. Our house is tiny, tiny,
tiny with no extra room for sweet potatoes (and not cold
enough anyway).

Our (unheated) garage is large, but will be way too cold in
winter (it gets down to around -20 Fahrenheit or colder here
each winter).

We have no cellar. We have an unheated attic but it's
inaccessible, neither of us can get into it. The attic
would probably be way too cold anyway.

I have a lovely new dehydrator. I have the luxury of a
large freezer, although it pretty much fills up with garden
produce each fall. I will buy a pressure canner if I think
I'd use it enough to justify the cost.

Has anyone canned, dried, or frozen sweet potatoes with good
results?

Thanks!

Pat
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