Sweet potatoes are an important staple food that can be made into many delicious dishes. Sweet potatoes can be boiled, steamed, fried, baked, made into cakes, and used in soups… all are very delicious. They provide a lot of protein, unsaturated fatty acids, carotene, phosphorus, potassium, calcium…
Many people often buy sweet potatoes to store and eat gradually, without having to go to the market many times. However, if sweet potatoes are left for a few days, they will sprout, wither, and become wrinkled. These potatoes have reduced quality and will no longer taste good when cooked.
To keep sweet potatoes for a long time, please refer to the instructions below.
How to store sweet potatoes
Do not wash the potatoes with water when you bring them home. If the potatoes have soil on the outside and the soil is wet, you should let the potatoes dry for a day before storing them.
Note that if you sunbathe the potatoes, you should not sunbathe them for too long. Just sunbathe until the outer soil layer is dry. Sunbathing for too long will cause the potatoes to wither and lose moisture.
Prepare a wooden box with partitions.
Line a layer of newspaper at the bottom of the box. Then, take a tissue paper, put baking soda inside, and wrap it tightly. Put the baking soda packet into the box and arrange the sweet potatoes on top. Do not pour all the potatoes into the box at once, but stack them neatly one by one. After each layer of potatoes, lay a layer of newspaper and add a baking soda packet. Do this until all the purchased potatoes are used up.
Finally, close the box lid and store it in a dry, airy place. It is best to place a few bricks under the box to prevent the potatoes from coming into direct contact with the ground.
With this storage method, you can keep sweet potatoes fresh for about six months. The longer the potatoes are stored, the sweeter they become.
Some notes when storing sweet potatoes
– Do not put sweet potatoes in the refrigerator
The low temperature in the refrigerator will change the structure of the potato cells, making the core of the potatoes harder. This makes the potatoes, even when cooked, not as soft as desired. It is best to keep the potatoes in a cool, dark place.
– Do not wash potatoes when storing
To prevent the potatoes from rotting, you must keep the potatoes dry. Only wash the potatoes when you are ready to use them.