Why "Cure" Sweet Potatoes After Harvesting?

Curing is an important step after harvesting sweet potatoes, even for the home gardener, for two reasons, as explained by Iowa State University Extension Vegetable Specialist Ajay Nair in this excellent video (my comments about the video below the video):



The video above discusses both grading and curing. While home gardeners are not particularly concerned with grading, I recommend watching the whole video just to learn. If you prefer to go right to the information about curing, you can skip ahead in the video to the 3:35 point.

Sweet potatoes sustain small injuries during the harvest process. These injuries provide openings for disease which leads to rot. To store sweet potatoes for several weeks or months, these injuries need to be healed. The sweet potatoes themselves will heal if placed in the correct environment for a couple of weeks.

Also, "curing" the sweet potatoes helps improve their flavor and sweetness.

To cure, place the sweet potatoes in a well-ventilated environment maintained at 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 percent humidity for about two weeks. They will cure at somewhat lower temperatures, but it will take longer.

Gardeners use various methods to create the right environment for curing.

After curing, the sweet potatoes should be kept in a cooler, drier (but not too dry) environment. Usually, 55 to 65 degrees is the temperature I see recommended most often.

Curing sweet potatoes in a 5 gallon plastic bucket.

I cure my sweet potatoes by putting them in a 5 gallon bucket and placing the lid on loosely. I put the bucket on the south side of the house on the porch with a concrete floor. Even during the cooler months the sun heats up the concrete floor and the bucket enough to cure the potatoes in a couple of weeks. I live in Florida, so this works well for me. In colder climates, even in the South, this may not work well and you'll have to try something different to keep them warm and moist.