Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

In an earlier post I showed pictures of the sweet potato vines that take over the garden each year at this time.  I never even have to plant them as they come up "volunteer" every year.  The 30' by 30' area that I allow them to grow in looks like a jungle.
 

Sweet Potato Vines

Usually around the first of October, we dig up the entire sweet potato patch with a shovel.  The boys help me out and enjoy the sweet potato harvest as almost every shovel full that I turn over has a potato to put in the bucket.  Sweet Potato vines actually make a flower that looks sort of like a morning glory.


Sweet Potato Flower

Benjamin is busy harvesting below.  We picked about a two foot swath that we started harvesting in.  I'm sure the commercial growers do this with equipment, but a shovel and some manual labor is how we do it.  We just dig up a shovel full and turn it over and collect the sweet potatoes and put them in a bucket.  If you look closely, you can see two nice sweet potatoes in Benjamin's shovel.  Off to the side are some clippers with red handles.  We clip the vines for only what we want to harvest for the day.  Since the vines grow out horizontally and put down new roots every few feet, clipping them doesn't kill the plant.  In the photo below, I've cleared the patch that we'll harvest today.  You can see the difference between the first picture above and then below to see the portion of "jungle" we've cleared.


Barefooted Boy digging sweet potatoes

At Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, we don't waste a thing.  Everything either gets put back into the land in the form of compost or fed to the animals.  In this case Daisy and Rosie make their presence known by the garden fence and beg.  We oblige and throw the vines over the fence.  They absolutely LOVE sweet potato vines.  Even better are the sweet potato tubers that are too small to eat.  We hand feed them to the cows.  The cows must think they are candy and keep coming back for more.

Rosie and Daisy - Sweet Potato Vine Crazy

The next few pictures show some of the produce that we got after digging just a little bit.  We will continue the harvest over the next week or so.  It takes a while to dig up all the potatoes.  Its is always a competition to see the weird shapes that sweet potatoes grow in.  Here's a really big one:
 

Benjamin showing off a HUGE sweet potato as big as his head!

Here's one that looks like a pear

 Here is what I think is the perfect sized sweet potato:


A nice one!

 Once we dig them, you can't just cook and eat them, LSU AgCenter researchers say the following: 

Sweet potatoes are not very sweet or moist when first dug.  It takes six to eight weeks of proper curing and storage before they have the sweet, moist taste and texture desired when baked, says LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Tom Koske.  After the roots are dug, they should be cured to heal the cuts and trigger development of the sugar-creating enzymes, the LSU AgCenter horticulturist explains.  Cure by storing in a warm, humid room for five to 10 days. A temperature of 80 degrees to 85 degrees and a relative humidity of 80 percent to 90 percent are ideal. These exact conditions will be hard to establish around the home, so select a room or building that comes close to these conditions. After curing, store roots at 55 degrees to 60 degrees for six to eight weeks. This storage further develops the sugars and maltose sugar-creating enzyme. This enzyme will really kick in while baking at 350 degrees to 375 degrees to develop the sweet, syrupy sugars that Louisiana yams are famous for. Stored cured roots may last several months or more.

You can see below I've started the first step of the curing process by hanging the harvested sweet potatoes in an onion sack from the pecan tree.  I'll leave them there for 10 days before bringing them inside to finish curing.



The curing has begun



In the up-coming week we'll harvest many more and will repeat the process.  Once that is done, all that remains is TO EAT THEM!!  They will last for several months in our pantry.  Tricia normally makes empanadas, sweet potato pies, sweet potato fries, baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato candied casserole, mashed sweet potatoes - all family favorites.  Hard work getting them to the table, but good eating!