Because sweet potatoes are dense, you'll want a knife that is big enough and sharp enough to make a smooth cut, like a 7-5/8" Petite Chef knife. After peeling the potato, find a place on it where it can rest on the cutting board without too much roll or wobble.
After peeling with a 4" Paring Knife or Vegetable Peeler, use a prep knife that's long enough to cut the length of the potato, like a 7" Santoku or a 7-5/8" Petite Chef knife. Also, know that peeling a potato isn't necessary, that's your call.
Nakiri/Usuba: Vegetable Knife
If you frequently cut vegetables such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cabbage or even normal large potatoes, you should definitely consider buying a Nakiri or Usuba knife.
To help with cutting, you can soften the sweet potatoes in a few different ways. Parboil – peel and trim off both ends of the sweet potato and place in a saucepot with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 8 minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool before cutting into your desired shape.
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.
Wash and scrub each sweet potato and dry thoroughly. Use a knife or a fork to stab each sweet potato at least 6-7 times (this will vary depending on the size of your potato).
The potato will not rupture without one. In fact, I've found sweet potatoes cooked without being forked first are much easier to peel, post-roasting, as the steam pushes against the skin as it tries to escape, separating it from the flesh.
Santoku knives or to give them their full name Santoku bocho knives, which translates as 'three uses', are ideal for mincing, dicing and slicing, as they feature a straight edge with a narrow sheep's foot blade.
Larger chef's knives are used for cutting meat, dicing vegetables, disjointing some cuts, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. Carving knives are used for slicing and carving dense meats. Slicing knives are used for cutting thinner slices of roast, fruit and vegetables.
Serrated Blade
Serrated edges are blades that have some kind of toothed or saw-like edge ground into the cutting surface. These are intended to be used much like a small saw with a back-and-forth motion. They're great for cutting through belts and ropes, fabric and various other textured materials.
You do not need to peel a sweet potato prior to cooking it in the oven. The skins of sweet potatoes are safe to eat, both raw and cooked, and contain nutrients such as fiber and antioxidants. Whether or not you peel the potato is completely personal preference.
Yes, you can eat sweet potato skin, whether it's an orange, white or purple sweet potato. So the next time you make sweet potatoes, try keeping the skin on. Not only will it save you prep time and add a textural component to the dish, but there are also nutritional benefits to leaving the peel on.
Expert Advice. "Yes, it's good to prick them," says Brennan Smith, a faculty member of the School of Food Science at University of Idaho. "It pokes holes in the skin, which allows steam to escape. Otherwise, they could explode—it doesn't happen all the time, but it happens every once in a while.
Wrapping the sweet potatoes in foil ensures that they don't dry out too quickly, and allows you to add aromatics if desired. Unwrapping the sweet potatoes and increasing the oven temperature produces charred, roasted flavors and caramelizes converted sugars.
Prep the sweet potato: Thoroughly wash and scrub the sweet potato, then pat dry. Pierce the flesh with a fork 3 to 4 times.
The first mistake people make is making their fries too thick. It's incredibly difficult to get crispy sweet potato wedges in the oven, it's better to slice them too thin than too thick. The second crucial step is to make sure they are all uniformly cut.
A: You can store peeled potatoes in water in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Peeled potatoes left out by themselves at room temperature, on a refrigerator shelf or wrapped in foil or plastic wrap will still get dark overnight, so submerge them in a bowl of water, cover and refrigerate.
Sweet potatoes: Peel and chop 3 to 4 days in advance. Store in a sealed bag or container with an airtight lid in the refrigerator. Winter squash: Peel, seed, and chop 3 to 4 days in advance. Store in a sealed bag or container with an airtight lid in the refrigerator.