We live in an agrcultural area with many different crops grown around us. One of those crops is sweet potatoes. We are blessed that after the owners get through harvesting they allow people in the community to glean the fields. In November my husband was able to glean 2 five-gallon buckets full and after letting them cure, I've set to work freezing them.
Here's how I'm doing it ...
The first thing I do is wash and scrub all the dirt and sand off of them. I use a vegetable scrub brush to make sure to get it all off because nobody wants to bite into grains of sand in the midst of enjoying their sweet potato!
After washing and scrubbing the sweet potatoes, I line a flat pan with parchment paper.
Fill the pan with the clean sweet potatoes and bake them at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.
After they are done baking, I let them cool on the counter and then refrigerated them overnight.
Next, I vacuum seal them into meal size portions and add them to the freezer part of my pantry.
When we get ready to have some we'll take a package out of the freezer, let it thaw in the refrigerator, slice the potatoes into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices, fry them up in a little bit of butter, make some gravy and enjoy!
This is a treat meal for us as the potatoes are high in carbs, (not as high as white potatoes, but still high) but we look forward to having it occasionally.
patsi
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
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My neighbor gave me a lot and I froze them as well. A little different method, I make thick slices and roast them like that with a little olive oil and seasoning. After freezing I just thaw and warm.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, Gloria, that sounds good too!
DeleteMy baby grandchildren have eaten lots of sweet potatoes prepared and frozen this way over the years. I wrap individually in plastic wrap and place in Ziploc freezer bags. Very inexpensive baby food.
ReplyDeleteLana, that works too! Sweet potatoes are so good!!
DeletePatsy thank you so much for this idea. I dry a lot of sweet potatoes and winter squash. Whirl it in the blender and rehydrate the amount I need for mashed ones or pies etc. This makes another idea as well as the ideas the other ladies gave you. !! :) I was wondering though about the gravy you mentioned. What kind etc. That TOO sounds good! I make gravy but to use on sweet potatoes is one I never thought of. Aldi had a good sale on sweet potatoes was did many other stores this year. Then Aldi reduced them half their first sale price so we got some more! Sarah
ReplyDeleteI did not know sweet potatoes had to cure! What is the curing process? How long does it take? I would surely appreciate an education on this.
ReplyDeleteSue, we let ours 'cure' for at least 2 weeks and most of the time longer. It allows the 'sweet' in the sweet potato to develop fully. In my opinion it is the easiest part of growing, harvesting and preserving sweet potatoes. All you have to do is put them in a container where air will be able to circulate around them and where they will stay dry. Then you just leave them alone. When the curing time is over, wash, clean and preserve or store them away until ready for use if your climate is appropriate (If I were going to store them away in a basement or root cellar, etc, I would not wash and clean them). (Areas that experience high humidity are not good for storing root vegetables such as sweet potatoes.)
DeleteThank you, Patsy! :)
ReplyDelete