How to store sweet potatoes

People always don’t know how to store sweet potatoes better. If they are not careful, the sweet potatoes they store will deteriorate, and then they will be impossible to eat. In fact, the sweet potatoes should be stored in a relatively dry and warm place at this time, and the indoor temperature and humidity must be maintained. If the temperature is too low, the sweet potatoes will be frozen and damaged.

Sweet potatoes need to be dug out of the ground before the arrival of frost. Try not to damage the skin when digging and store them in a cellar dug in advance. The soil around the cellar should be loess, with a depth of 3 to 5 meters. Arrange the sweet potatoes neatly in the cellar, sprinkle some preservatives on them, and cover the cellar entrance with straw.

1. After the temperature rises in spring, at noon on a windless, sunny and warm day, when the temperature exceeds 12°C, ventilate the potato cellar for a short time to reduce the concentration of miscellaneous bacteria in the cellar and prevent excessive humidity in the cellar, which will cause mold on the damaged potato skin and affect the appearance quality of the product.

2. The temperature in the cellar is always maintained at 11-13℃, and the relative humidity is maintained at 85~90%. If the cellar temperature exceeds 15℃, open the vents appropriately to release the heat. However, it should be noted that spring temperatures are often unstable, and in some years there may be snow and cold weather as early as April. In particular, you must not be complacent with potato cellars with poor thermal insulation performance. Once you find that the cellar temperature has dropped, immediately cover the vents to keep warm. If necessary, use heating facilities to increase the temperature appropriately.

3. When the humidity in the cellar is low, water should be added to the pit in the cellar or wet straw mats should be used to pave the walkway to increase the air humidity in the cellar.

4. When it is found that the sweet potatoes in the cellar are spreading disease and rot, they should be taken out immediately and eaten as soon as possible to reduce the loss caused by disease and rot.

5. After the spring sweet potato seedling raising is completed, if you plan to extend the storage, you should pay attention to strengthening the management of temperature and humidity. The maximum cellar temperature should not exceed 15°C, and the relative humidity should be controlled at 65~90%. When the weather gets hot, you should also pay attention to ventilation in the cellar. For potato cellars that have been sealed too tightly for a long time and where a large number of potatoes have rotted, you should open the vents in advance to ventilate the cellar before entering. You can only enter the cellar when it is safe to avoid suffocation due to lack of oxygen.

The fiber content of white sweet potato is equivalent to 10 times that of rice and flour. It has a fine texture and is gentle on the stomach and intestines. It can speed up the peristalsis of the digestive tract, aid defecation, clean the digestive tract, shorten the residence time of toxic substances in food in the intestines, reduce human self-poisoning caused by constipation, reduce the concentration of intestinal carcinogens, and prevent hemorrhoids and colorectal cancer. At the same time, cellulose can absorb some glucose, reducing the sugar content in the blood and helping to prevent diabetes.