Sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and skipping the cleaning step means dirt or grit can end up in your sweet potato casserole. Before cooking or cutting sweet potatoes, wash the skins and give them a scrub with a clean vegetable brush.
Since sweet potatoes grow underground, it is essential to scrub them before peeling them to remove any residual dirt or bacteria from the skins—use warm water and your hands or a scrubbing brush. Completely dry the sweet potatoes with a tea towel or paper towel.
The Bottom Line. You can eat sweet potato skin. It's a good source of fiber, a nutrient that may help lower the risk of heart disease and keep you feeling full for longer periods of time. The next time you make a sweet potato dish, whether it's a roasted side dish or a hearty, cozy casserole, leave the peel on.
You can clean sweet potatoes much as you would clean a regular white potato. Simply place them in a colander beneath running cold water and scrub away any dirt. Warm water works, too, but avoid using hot water, which can cook parts of the potato. Only wash potatoes when you are ready to start cooking.
Soak in cold water
By soaking the wedges you draw out the starch from the potato. The starch is what causes the insides of wedges to go gloppy when they bake, and by removing the starch you increase the chances of them coming out light and fluffy in the centre.
The excess potato starch that forms when potatoes are peeled and sliced must be rinsed off the chips with water. If not, the surface starch will block the evaporation of moisture from the potato and lead to mushy, dark brown chips.
Pro tip: If the potatoes are going to be peeled, Fields-White says to clean them with this same process listed above before the knife or peeler comes in contact. "After peeling, put them in water with a little lemon juice if you're not going to cook right away, or they'll discolor," she says.
The Food and Drug Administration advises you wash potatoes before you eat them. Potatoes grow in the ground, and carry not only dirt but also bacteria to the grocery store and later, your table. Pesticides also remain on potato skin; even organic potatoes carry some degree of contaminants.
Soak in cool water. This step is necessary for sweet potatoes to release some starch making the outside crispy while allowing the inside to stay soft and creamy. Toss in oil and spices.
"From a health point of view, and I think from a taste and texture point of view, it's much better to leave the skin on," Simon says. "The skin of the potato is very high in fibre, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B — all of those good, healthy things are in high concentration in the skin."
For peeling uncooked sweet potatoes, remove any woody parts first and then use either a serrated vegetable peeler or a paring knife to remove the skin. For peeling boiled sweet potatoes, simply fill a bowl with ice water and place the sweet potatoes inside. You can then easily peel the skin away with your fingers.
As long as the texture of the sweet potato is firm and there are no other signs of expiration (such as mold), there is nothing to worry about. However, if the texture is mushy and you notice liquid oozing out, the sweet potato has expired. There will also be other signs such as mold, sprouts or a bad odor.
The ooze is actually referred to as "sap." It is made up of sugar and starch combined with the moisture found in the vegetable, and it escapes out of the damage made from the knife. The sap really equals the sweetness. If it's pouring out of your potato, that means it's a sweet and delicious vegetable.
While you can certainly use a dedicated potato or vegetable scrubbing brush for this step, a clean dish towel, paper towels, or even an exfoliating bath and shower glove will do the trick to remove the last bits of dirt.
Wash sweet potatoes, and brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, to taste. Baked sweet potatoes for 40 minutes – 90 minutes, or until the flesh has reduced and is very soft. The skin will very easily pull off the potatoes when they are ready.
Rinsing potatoes helps remove excess starch, so it is recommended to rinse the potatoes before cooking. To ensure even more starch is out of the way, it's recommended that they even be quickly rinsed after boiling. We recommend using hot water for rinsing after boiling and cold water prior to boiling.
Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey.
Rinsing potatoes with cold water prior to boiling helps remove excess starch. Rinsing with hot water immediately after boiling can remove even more starch. Cutting potatoes before boiling does remove excess starch.
Potatoes store longest if they are unwashed. After harvesting from the garden, lay them out in a single layer in a dark and airy place to let the soil dry on to the tuber. Lightly brush off excess dirt before you pack them. Pile dry, unwashed potatoes in a clean wooden or waxed cardboard bin.
POTATOES ARE DIRTY. Avoid getting specks of dirt in your spuds by thoroughly rinsing in cold water and scrubbing them first.
How long can peeled and cut potatoes sit in water before cooking, before they begin taking on too much water? A: We usually recommend no more than 24 hours. You can keep the potatoes from absorbing the water by making sure the water is not salted, and is chilled (you can even add ice to the water).
Just give them a good rinse to remove any dirt and cut out any blemishes you see. Some people may prefer to peel the potatoes before boiling, but we would recommend you leave the skins on. This ensures that the nutrients and flavours are not lost during cooking and you get all those lovely vitamins too.
Scrub the dirt off of each sweet potato. Use a fork to poke 8 to 10 sets of holes in the skins of each sweet potato for ventilation and wrap each tightly in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet to catch the juice that will inevitably leak out. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour, or until soft.
Grate your raw sweet potatoes and place the pulp into cheese cloth in a bowl. Squeeze the cheese cloth and the starch is extracted. Keep squeezing until the liquid you're extracting comes out clear. That means you've removed all the starch from the sweet potato pulp.
Starch rich potatoes usually turn soft and crumbly, while frying or baking. So, if you are making delicacies wherein you want the potatoes to be crispy and crunchy, then removing starch is the best way to keep your wafers, fries, crispy potatoes, hash browns crisp and delicious.