How to preserve purple sweet potatoes at home

Many elderly people like to buy a lot of food at one time. Sometimes, if they buy too much food and do not store it properly, the food will rot and cause waste. Many elderly people like to use purple sweet potatoes to make porridge. Since purple sweet potatoes are relatively small, it is very easy to buy too many. So how can families preserve purple sweet potatoes to slow down their decay? Here are some ways to preserve purple sweet potatoes. Let’s learn about them together.

1. How to store purple sweet potatoes

There are roughly two ways to store purple sweet potatoes, namely high-temperature storage and low-temperature storage.

1. The high-temperature storage method is to burn fire to raise the temperature to 35-38℃ after the purple sweet potatoes are put into the cellar, and maintain it for 2-3 days to kill the black spot disease, soft rot and other pathogens of the purple sweet potatoes. Then lower the temperature to 10-14℃ for storage. This method is very effective, but it is costly and difficult to operate. Therefore, for farmers who store food separately, the low-temperature storage method with chemical treatment is more suitable.

2. Use low-temperature storage method. First, disinfect the potato cellar one week before the purple sweet potatoes are put into the cellar. You can use 1000 times diluted 70% thiophanate or 800 times diluted 50% carbendazim to spray disinfect the cellar. After the purple sweet potatoes are harvested, they must be processed and stored in the cellar in a timely manner. You can use 1000 times diluted 70% thiophanate or 800 times diluted 50% carbendazim in a 1:1 ratio to soak the purple sweet potatoes, then remove them, drain them and put them into the cellar. Third, after the purple sweet potatoes are put into the cellar, various methods are used to keep the temperature in the cellar below 15℃ and above 10℃. When the temperature in the cellar is lower than 15℃, the activity of pathogens can be inhibited; when it is higher than 10℃, frost damage can be avoided, thus achieving the purpose of safe storage.

2. Purple sweet potatoes taste sweet and contain a large amount of selenium and anthocyanins. Anthocyanins have preventive and therapeutic effects on more than 100 diseases. Eating more purple sweet potatoes can improve the body's immunity. But you also need to know some precautions when eating purple sweet potatoes.

1. Don’t choose the round ones, choose the long ones. It is better to choose the spindle-shaped purple sweet potatoes as they taste better.

2. The surface should look smooth. Don’t eat those with black spots on the skin, as they will have a strange smell when cooked. Don’t pick rotten purple sweet potatoes as they are poisonous.

3. It does not smell moldy. Moldy purple sweet potatoes contain ketotoxins and are not edible.

4. Don’t buy purple sweet potatoes with black or brown spots on the skin.

5. Although sprouted purple sweet potatoes are not as poisonous as potatoes, they taste worse, so try not to choose them.

Purple sweet potato is rich in protein, starch, pectin, cellulose, amino acids, vitamins and various minerals. Purple sweet potatoes are rich in nutrients and have special health functions. The proteins and amino acids in them are easily digested and absorbed by the human body. The rich vitamin A in it can improve vision and skin mucosal epithelial cells, and vitamin C can normalize the synthesis of collagen protein and prevent the occurrence of scurvy.

In addition to the nutrients of ordinary sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes are also rich in selenium and anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are natural and powerful free radical scavengers. Their ability to scavenge free radicals is 20 times that of vitamin C and 50 times that of vitamin E.