Oh, the misunderstood sweet potato! At my childhood home, they graced our table only at Thanksgiving dinner, hiding beneath a nearly impenetrable cloak of toasted marshmallows and brown sugar. With their natural sweetness, they hardly deserved this treatment, and given their preference for warm climates and their availability in Atlanta’s farmers’ markets during the fall, it’s high time to reclassify the sweet potato as standard, everyday dinner fare. Keep reading for area farmers’ tips on ways to enjoy the vegetable as well as their advice on growing the vibrant root.

More closely related to a morning glory vine than to potatoes, propagation of the plant is through sprouts called “slips” that are culled from existing tubers. Quite a departure from regular potatoes that you’d propagate by cutting the root into eye-sporting cubes, these plants require some benign neglect at first.
Farmer Charlotte Swancy reveals her favorite technique for getting them started: “Pick 10-50 of your favorite sweet potatoes, put them under some straw and forget about them! Once you see them sprout up in the spring…those sprouts are your slips.”

If your slips already have roots, gently pull them out—taking care to get the roots, too—and plant them at two-foot intervals, slightly hilled. No roots? No worries. Farmer Mary Anne Woodie puts her slips into water to encourage them to develop roots before she plants them in the soil. “Once the roots develop, transplant them in the garden,” she says.

Once planted, water your slips to help make sure they get established. After they’re established, watch out! “They’ll begin to take over the area you’ve put them in,” Charlotte says. Over the summer, the vines produce a lush (and low-maintenance) carpet of deep green leaves tinged with purple.

It’s at this point that farmer Judith Winfrey uncovers the hidden harvest—the greens. In the heat of the summer when the other greens are long gone, sweet potato greens take center stage. “They’re delicious—the texture of spinach with a nutty, aromatic flavor,” she notes. “They’re high in vitamins A and C and a great source of calcium, not to mention one of the best cooking greens that I’ve ever had that grows well in the summer.” The young, tender leaves can be harvested throughout the life of the plant.

The plants, as belies their tropical origins, alas are completely intolerant to frost, and a freeze can ruin roots below the surface. To avoid frost, Charlotte counsels, “Before fall, mow or cut the tops down to the ground, then dig them up the next day.” To develop their sweetness, roots are set out to cure for one to two weeks in a warm place.

The resulting golden roots can be found at farmers’ markets and groceries that stock locally grown produce throughout the winter, and they make a warming addition to soup and stir fries, or enjoy them in a salad dressed with lime-marinated onions.

“They’re like a two in one plant,” says Judith. “They really are so amazing.”
Download chef Virginia Willis’ recipe for Bourbon Sweet Potatoes (pictured above) at www.georgiaorganics.org/Files/sweetpotatoes.pdf.

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