Sweet potatoes are delicious and nutritious but sometimes can be a little stringy. This post aims to tell you how to get the string out of the sweet potatoes to make them more enjoyable to eat.
We also explore a little about why they become stringy and how you can avoid this problem in the future.
Reasons For Stringy Sweet Potatoes
The main reason for the problem is that the sweet potatoes were not cured or stored correctly. After being harvested, the roots should be cured for about a week at a temperature of about 85 degrees Fahrenheit at a humidity of around 85 percent.
This helps to heal cuts and bruises and thereby prolongs their shelf life. It is also during this time that some of the starches turn to sugars, improving the flavor.
Once cured, the potatoes are stored at a cooler temperature of about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If they are stored above this, they shrivel up, becoming dry and stringy.
How To Get Strings Out Of Sweet Potatoes
While you may know what causes sweet potatoes to become stringy, there isn’t much that you as a customer can do about how the market or supermarket stores them.
1. The first method for removing the strings is to bake the sweet potatoes whole with their skins on until they are very soft. Once cool enough to handle, cut them in half lengthways.
Next, take hold of the pointy end where the end of the bundle of strings lies. Lift this gently, pulling most of the strings with it.
2. If you are going to roast them, try peeling the sweet potatoes and then cutting them into dice. Toss them in oil and roast. This will chop the strings into short pieces, making them less noticeable.
3. Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in half, then boil them until soft. Press them through a strainer with the back of a large spoon.
The strings will be left behind while the flesh passes through the sieve. Blend the flesh with some butter and a little milk for stringless, soft mashed sweet potato.
4. Most of the strings are close to the sweet potato skin so peeling them thickly will remove some, if not all, of the strings.
5. The ends of the sweet potatoes also tend to be where most of the fibers lie. Cut off either end and you should be good to go.
How To Buy Stringless Sweet Potatoes
While there are no guarantees, it is possible to an extent to see if a sweet potato is going to be stringy or not.
- Avoid old-looking, shriveled sweet potatoes.
- The orange-skinned and fleshed varieties tend to be moister, sweeter, and have fewer strings than the white or yellow-fleshed ones. Covington or Jewel are great varieties with few strings.
To Conclude
Sweet potatoes are so delicious that it’s a pity when they are stringy. It is best to avoid buying stringy ones in the first place but if you do happen to get some, use our tips to remove the strings so that you can still enjoy them.