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The Science of Curing Sweet Potatoes for Maximum Sweetness

Suberization: Turning Starch Into Sugar

Freshly dug sweet potatoes must be cured (suberized) to heal skin wounds and convert starch to sugar. Ideal protocol:

80°F, high humidity for 7 days.
Then 60°F for 7 weeks.

Controlled curing yields the best flavor and storage life. Home gardeners can mimic this in a sunny cardboard box for a week, then move to a cool closet. For reliably cured roots, buy from a local farmers market.

About Gardening: How to Turn Sprouted Sweet Potatoes into Planting Slips; Curing and Storing Sweet Potatoes from Container Harvests; Growing Sweet Potatoes in Northern Minnesota: Slips, Timing, and Deer Resistance; Growing Sweet Potatoes in Southern Minnesota: Is It Possible?; Growing Sweet Potatoes: Tropical Roots for Northern Gardens Too; Fertilizing 'Beauregard' Sweet Potatoes: Medium Feeder Schedule; Growing Giant Sweet Potatoes: Easy Culture, Impressive Harvests; Curing Sweet Potatoes: Why Sun-Drying Beats Kiln Drying; Planting Potatoes: Sweet vs. White—Different Biology; Sweet Potato Scurf: Cosmetic Only, No Chemical Cure

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