Sweet potato

How to store Sweet potato

Sweet potatoes are best stored on a cool vegetable rack away from direct sunlight and should keep well for a few weeks.

Prep & Cooking tips

Treat in much the same way as you would a potato. The skins are perfectly edible when baked or roasted, so at the very least they only need a wash and scrub before using. For most other purposes they are easily peeled.

Sweet potatoes can be baked whole, and look almost purpose-made for cutting into long, tapered wedges for roasting. Once peeled and chopped, they can be boiled or steamed for mash, or added to soups and stews. They’ll cook a little faster than a conventional spud, and carry strong Caribbean, Indian and Asian flavours well. Their inherent sweetness means that they can be folded into any number of cakes, biscuits and muffins, much as you would with carrots or squash.

Easy ideas

1. Baked

Bake in its jacket and serve with a spicy chilli and soured cream. Try this recipe for a baked sweet potato served with smoky BBQ beans.

2. Wedges

Cleave into wedges and roast with plenty of salt, pepper and herbs. Even makes a smooth velvety mash to go with your bangers. They will cook faster and taste sweeter than standard spuds.

3. Nice with spice

From the lime-chilli-salt zing of Jamaica and the Southern States to the hearty spice of the Indian sub-continent; via the fragrant, smoky stew pots of North Africa and the Middle East. An ideal vehicle for your spice rack.

4. Like a potato?

Bake in its jacket and serve with a spicy chilli & soured cream. Slice pound-coin-thick and bake as a gratin with lots of garlic, cream and rosemary. Cleave into wedges and roast with plenty of salt, pepper and herbs. Even makes a smooth velvety mash to go with your bangers. They will cook faster and taste sweeter.

5. Like a squash?

An obvious proxy given the sweetness and colour. Can be diced and added into all sorts of curries or stews that would usually accommodate a squash. Makes for a delicious silken soup especially with coconut, chilli and lime to help things along. They can also work in that peculiarly American tradition of turning pumpkin into pud, their inherent sweetness means they can be folded into any number of cakes, biscuits and muffins.

Goes well with

Asian flavours (lime, chilli, coconut, lemongrass and ginger)

Dairy (soured cream and feta in particular)

Nuts (walnut, pecan & peanut)

Spices (chilli, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, cumin, star anise)

Herbs (coriander, rosemary, thyme)

Curries and chillies

Garlic

Onion

Mushrooms

Pork, poultry & game