Sweet Potato Coins Recipe

Sweet Potato Coins - great for medium to small Sweet potatoes - I harvested a bunch that size this year
1 pound of sweet potatoes
2 tbs. of olive oil
2 tbs. brown  sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper - 12 turns of an average pepper mill
1/4 tsp - dried cumin
Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch thick circles (coins)
Place in bowl - sprinkle with olive oil
add other ingredients - mix by hand until potatoes are covered
Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (spray a little PAM junk to prevent sticking)
Roast at 425 for 25 to 30 min. 
Super yummy snack, side dish or hors d'oeuvre

Sweet potato harvesting

The Beginning of Fall

Eggplant are still blooming and producing

Butternut squash are up and growing

The Autumn Sage is in its glory

Sweet potato bed is coming along

Cucumber experiment for this fall is looking good

Sweet Potato Experiment Continues

Last fall we had the greatest tasting sweet potatoes ever.  The variety was Beauregard, planted in July and dug up on Thanks Giving Day.  This spring I planted more sweet potatoes.  The variety is unknown. planted a different time of year, in different soil.  They did not taste as good as last year's.  Then I read about "Curing" sweet potatoes and wrote about it in a previous post.  We cured the SPs in the shed for a few weeks.   The taste definitely improved.  Unfortunately the taste was no where near last year's.  I planted more Beauregard's in late spring.  We will see if it is the variety.  I planted the unknown variety in July using the original soil mix from last fall.  We what tastes better.  This will teach me to experiment with unknown varieties of vegetables.  It was a free extra SP from some store.  I love experiments.

For Sweeter Sweet Potatoes - they have to be cured

Last year was he first time I ever grew sweet potatoes (Beauregard was the variety). Well, if you count kindergarten when we put them in glasses of water to watch them sprout then it would be the second time. Needless to say I don't know much about sweet potatoes other than the fact that they are ridiculously easy to grow and they taste great. Last fall our grandchildren and children had a great time digging the sweet potatoes I had planted. It was like a treasure hunt. They hung in the shed for awhile because we had other family activities and come December they tasted great.

They were so good I planted more this spring. We just dug them up and Diane baked a couple immediately. Yuk. They did not taste sweet. I could not figure out why these did not taste as good as last year. We gave some to some friends. Same story. So I started Googling to find the answer. Well here it is, straight from a Louisiana Ag Specialist.

After the roots are dug, they should be cured to heal the cuts and trigger development of the sugar-creating enzymes, the LSU AgCenter horticulturist explains. Cure by storing in a warm, humid room for five to 10 days. A temperature of 80 F to 85 F and a relative humidity of 80 percent to 90 percent are ideal. These exact conditions will be hard to establish around the home, so select a room or building that comes close to these conditions.

Amazing. I had no idea that sweet potatoes are not sweet when first dug. Last year's delay in eating is what made them great. I have a bag in the shed. I'll wait a week or so and then try them. Can't wait to find out the results.