How to Store Sweet Potatoes

Storing at Cool Room Temperature

Use fresh, fat sweet potatoes. Newly harvested sweet potatoes with the roots still attached are the best option to use. Plump sweet potatoes store just as well as skinny ones, and they have more usable "meat" to consume. If harvesting the sweet potatoes yourself, use a spade fork to dig 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) beneath the soil in order to get all the roots up. Handle them carefully since sweet potatoes tend to bruise easily, and shake off excess dirt but do not wash the roots.

Cure the sweet potatoes for 1 to 2 weeks. Keep the roots in a room or other location that reaches between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (24 and 27 degrees Celsius) with relative humidity of 90 to 95 percent. The sweet potatoes need to cure for at least 7 days, but they can be kept there for as many as 14 days. The curing process creates a second skin that forms over scratches and bruises, allowing the sweet potatoes to last longer in storage. Use a small electric fan in the area to keep the air circulating. This helps to prevent rotting and molding. Monitor the temperature and humidity regularly to make sure that the sweet potatoes are sitting in the conditions needed for proper curing. For best results, keep the sweet potatoes from touching each other as they cure.

Discard bruised sweet potatoes. After the sweet potatoes have finished curing, throw away any that appear bruised, rotting, or moldy. Bruised sweet potatoes have not cured correctly, so they will not last as long as the other sweet potatoes and may even cause the other sweet potatoes to spoil faster.

Wrap each one in newspaper. Individually wrap the sweet potatoes in sheets of newsprint or in brown paper bags. Newspaper and brown paper bags are both fairly breathable, providing just enough air circulation to prevent the sweet potatoes from rotting too quickly.

Pack the sweet potatoes in a box or basket. Store the individually-wrapped sweet potatoes in a cardboard box, wooden box, or wooden basket. Do not use an airtight storage container. Place an apple in the box. The apple will help prevent the sweet potatoes from budding.

Store in a cool, dark location. Keep the sweet potatoes in an area that is consistently between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (13 and 16 degrees Celsius). For best results, store the sweet potatoes in a basement or root cellar. If neither option is available to you, store them in a dark, cool, and well-ventilated cupboard or pantry away from strong heat sources. Do not use a refrigerator. Monitor the temperature frequently to make sure that it does not fall below or rise above this range. Stored in this manner, the sweet potatoes can last up to 6 months. Remove them from storage gently to prevent bruising.

Storing in the Freezer

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes. Wash fresh sweet potatoes with running water and a vegetable brush. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Rinsing the sweet potatoes under running water is not enough to clean them. In order to get them thoroughly clean, you should gently scrub them with a vegetable brush. Scrub gently to avoid bruising the flesh. If you do not have a vegetable peeler, you can also remove the skin with a small paring knife that has a smooth blade. Start with fresh sweet potatoes to maximize the length of time they can be stored.

Boil the sweet potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes. Fill a large stockpot with water and boil it over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes and cook until tender. You need to cook the sweet potatoes before you can freeze them, as raw sweet potatoes tend to break down and lose both flavor and nutrients in the freezer. Boiling is the preferred method of cooking sweet potatoes for freezer storage. The boiling process should take about 20 minutes for a standard-size sweet potato.

Slice or mash the sweet potatoes. Use a knife to cut the sweet potatoes into thin slices or a potato masher to mash the sweet potatoes. Do not store the cooked sweet potatoes whole. You could also use an electric mixer to beat the sweet potatoes into a mashed consistency, instead.

Sprinkle with lemon juice. Add roughly 1 tsp (5 ml) of lemon juice per sweet potato to the slices or mashed mix. Make sure that the sweet potatoes are coated in the lemon juice. Lemon juice can prevent discoloration, but you should only use a small amount to avoid altering the taste.

Let cool. Allow the sweet potatoes to cool before storing them. Freezing the sweet potatoes while warm can cause condensation to build in the container, causing them to spoil sooner.

Transfer the sweet potatoes to airtight containers. Place the mashed sweet potatoes or sliced sweet potatoes in freezer-safe resealable plastic bags or freezer-safe plastic containers. Do not use metal or glass containers.

Freeze for 10 to 12 months. On average, cooked sweet potatoes stored in the freezer can last for 10 to 12 months.