Indeed, the convenience of pre-chopped sweet potatoes cannot be overlooked. However, getting whole sweet potatoes from the market (often at a cheaper price) and prepping them beforehand is also an option.
Planning to peel and chop up your sweet potatoes for a substantial meal or recipe? It's crucial to immerse them in water stored in the refrigerator. This ensures they are kept hydrated and ready-to-use.
Asking yourself how far ahead you can peel sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes can be peeled, sliced, and refrigerated for as long as 24 hours before cooking; this way, meal planning becomes less hectic. According to information from Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University, one must store these uncooked diced potatoes immersed in water - properly covered - inside the fridge to maintain their freshness.
Steps for Meal-Preparation: Peeling and Cubing Sweet Potatoes
Required Items
- Entire which are sweet potatoes
- A cleaning brush (not necessary but beneficial)
- Big-sized, pointed knife
- Surface for slicing or chopping board
- Sizeable bowl container
- Little sharp knife or skin remover equipment
- Plain water
1. Cleaning Sweet Potatoes
It's crucial, regardless of which variant of sweet potatoes you're intending to use, to cleanse them thoroughly with water before removing their skin. Using a scrub brush can aid in eliminating any additional dirt or debris, thus simplifying the potato-peeling process.
This significant step holds importance across all sweet potato dishes. Be it roasted, mashed, transformed into casserole or just mere baked sweet potatoes.
Regarding peeling question - it is not mandatory for consumption purposes. Your cooking recipe primarily governs your decision to peel or keep the skin intact. For instance: If you're planning on making sweet potato fries, leaving the skin unpeeled before roasting is equally acceptable concerning one's personal taste and choice.
Choosing to consume a skin-on version leads towards higher fiber intake according to Mississippi Sweet Potato Council. Remember cleaning scrupulously is vital if you prefer consuming them with their skins on.
2. Begin with the Preparation of Sweet Potatoes
Take a sweet potato in hand along with a peeler and start shaving off its skin by applying pressure on the blade down its sides until the exterior is completely peeled. Keep continuing this process till there's no skin left on it.
Alternatively, if you are not equipped with a peeler, worry not as a small knife would be just as effective for this procedure.
Boiling an entire sweet potato? There are options for when you could peel it - either prior to submerging it into water or immediately after removing it from heat (or don't peel at all!). According to U.S. Sweet Potato Council, choosing to peel your sweet potatoes ahead results in faster cooking; while leaving the skin on allows effortless removal after boiling where intact skin strips easily, often without any further use of tools!
Bear in mind though, should you choose to separate the flesh from their skins post-boil ensure that they've sufficiently cooled down before handling them.
3. Cubing the Sweet Potatoes
After you've peeled your potatoes, it's time to cut them into cubes using a sharp knife. Firstly, position the sweet potato on your chopping board; make sure to stabilize it with one hand that isn't handling the knife.
According to tips from Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, you'll find cubing easier if you square off both ends and all four sides of your potato first - this results in a more manageable rectangular shape for cutting. Proceed by making several lengthwise cuts across the surface of the potato.
Next, rotate the potato by one-quarter and repeat another set of lengthwise cuts through it. While keeping these slices intact with your non-dominant hand, cut perpendicular to these initial slice lines made already. Carrying out these procedures rightly will provide perfect sweet potato cubes.
4. How to Store Your Potatoes Securely
Following the peeling and cubing of your sweet potatoes, you have two options: cook them right away or keep them preserved overnight.
If you won't be cooking the peeled sweet potatoes immediately, they require refrigeration. To store these peeled sweet potatoes in your refrigerator, put them into a bowl filled with cold water. Before you commence cooking later on, make sure to pat dry the vegetables using a paper towel - this step further minimizes any bacteria presence according to FDA.
However, If you're planning on immediate cooking following preparation, simply arrange the potato pieces atop an oven tray dressed with olive oil whisked together with salt and pepper; or alternatively add it into a pan for sautéeing alongside meat - or incorporate within any other chosen sweet potato recipe ideas of yours. Sometimes choosing to initially boil your sweet potatoes might seem more feasible as it leads up-to-speed meal preps.
