How to Buy, Store, & Cook Sweet Potatoes, in Season in October
Autumn is in the air, and root vegetables, squash, and hearty greens are coming from the ground. This week, we’ll be taking you through the seasonal ingredients you should be cooking with right now. Today: Sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are so much more than the saccharine, marshmallow-topped pies you see on Thanksgiving. They play well with fish, roll into delicious gnocchi, and can even be served in biscuit form. And of course, they make for great fries. Now that they're in season, pick up a few at the supermarket or grocery store to add a little pop of orange to your plate. Read on for tips on buying and storing sweet potatoes, and check out the slideshow above for recipe inspiration.
How to Buy
Sweet potatoes are available year-round, and are at their peak during the winter. Choose small to medium sweet potatoes that are heavy for their size. Avoid any with bruises or signs of sprouting. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes should have uniformly colored skin. The skin of light sweet potatoes is naturally more mottled.
How to Store
Keep sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place for up to a week. Do not refrigerate (chilling can cause sweet potatoes to develop a permanently hard center).
8/10Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Speck and Chimichurri
Feel free to play with different herbs in the chimichurri recipe—that’s what Michael and Patrick Sheerin (brothers and co-chefs at Trenchermen, Chicago) have always done: “When we were younger, our mom would buy lots of herbs, but she’d never use them,” says Michael. “So we’d just blend them with garlic, oil, and vinegar.”
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi10/10Sweet Potato Fries with Sriracha Crème Fraîche
