Southern Sweet Potato Bread with Raisins

Sweet Potatoes aren’t just for the holidays. They can be found in grocery stores year-round and with good reason. Sweet Potato are not only delicious, they’re darn good for you too. Personally, I prefer a baked sweet potato over a regular baked potato any day. A pat of butter, a shake of salt and a grind of black pepper and its good to go for me. Southern Sweet Potato Bread with Raisins is a great addition to your fall baking line-up.

However, the only time I like to serve sweet potatoes with all the “fluff,” is at Thanksgiving. Other than that one holiday, its plain Jane for me. An air-fryer is a sweet potatoes best friend. Most sweet potatoes are ready to eat in under 20 minutes, of course this depends on the size of your taters. Melissa’s Produce has organic baby sweet potatoes! They’re great for diets, small families or if you just want to add deliciousness to any dish.

Fun Facts About Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes are in season year round. This orange veggie shows up mainly during the month of November. A staple especially on our Thanksgiving dinner tables. Sweet Potatoes are just as versatile in the winter, spring and summer. In fact, February is National Sweet Potato Month. Here are a few fun facts about the Sweet Potato.

1. Many people think yams and sweet potatoes are the same, but a true yam is a starchy, edible root of the Dioscorea genus, and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean.
2. Depending on the variety, sweet potato flesh can vary from white to orange to even purple.
3. Sweet potatoes are high in beta carotene, vitamins E and C, iron, potassium and vitamin B6.
4. Sweet potato roots are harvested 90 to 120 days after transplanting.
5. North Carolina’s official vegetable is the sweet potato.
6. February is National Sweet Potato Month.
7. Sweet Potatoes like to grow in warm, humid climate.
8. Top sweet potato growing states are; North Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi.

How to Store Sweet Potatoes: Avoid storing sweet potatoes in the refrigerator. Refrigeration will produce a hard center and unpleasant taste. Instead, store your sweet potatoes in a cool, dry, well-ventilated container. For best results, store them in a basement or root cellar away from a strong heat source. Sweet potatoes can be stored for up to two weeks, whereas potatoes can be stored this way for months.

An Experiment I’ve Yet To Try

I’ve always wanted to grow my own “slips.” My Canadian friend Cindy, got me interested in growing my own sweet potato slips when I visited her several years ago. Sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory family and produce the same beautiful flowers. Cindy was going to grow her slips in her garden, and yes, sweet potatoes can be grown in Northern climates, IF started in early May or June but I was curious. Sort of like growing your own Avocado Trees Buying and Growing Guide. Growing your own sweet potato slips is easy to do. If you have grown sweet potatoes before, save a few for seedlings.

The traditional way to grow sweet potato slips is to wash the sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato in half and place half of it in water, holding it above the water with some toothpicks. This is the time to get creative or inventive and pick a really cool looking glass jar to use for your slips. Now place the potato in a sunny window and/or under a grow light and let it grow slips until they are at least 6 inches long. Once the slips are grown, take them off of the potato and place them in their own jar of water till they grow nice and healthy roots. Now they are ready to be planted.

PLANTING SWEET POTATOES IN CONTAINERS

If you really want a head start on the short growing season, plant the rooted slips into a container to become a healthy plant seedling to be transplanted into the ground as soon as the weather warms up. Sweet potatoes are heat loving plants. A container has the advantage that it will warm up the soil better.

If you want to grow sweet potatoes in a container, plant the rooted slip into a pot or grow bag big enough to grow nice tubers. A small pot will not do. If grown in a container, give the plant plenty of room to grow. Sweet potatoes also like loose, well-drained soil. You can use good potting soil and add some more compost to it for nutrients, or mix your own soil: 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss.

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Looking for more Southern-style recipes? Check these out.

• Tasty Sweet Potatoes
• Southern Pecan Pie
• Cranberry Sweet Potato Bake
• Southern Hush Puppy Recipe