Canning Sweet Potatoes

Remember back when I posted on our big family garden in the summer.  The sweet potato patch looked great. 

Well that clear plastic did it's job.  We got a bumper crop of sweet potatoes!!  Moles did chomp on a few but the potatoes are so big that it did not do that much harm.  We just trim off the spot that has chew marks on them and use the rest of the potato.   The average weight of the potatoes was probably between 3 and 4 lbs.  Yes I said 3 and 4 lbs.  The largest topped out at a little over 6 lbs and we had many that weighed 5 lbs.  After they were dug they went into the green house to harden up.  This cures the potatoes and they develop their sweet flavor during this time. 

I took a few sweet potatoes and decided to try canning them.  I have never done this before but they turned out great and was rather easy to do. First you wash your potatoes.  Then cut in half or quarters depending on the size of the potatoes.  I had to cut them into quarters.  Put in a large stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 15-20 minutes until the skin will peel off easily.  I also steamed some of them while waiting for the canner to finish.  It worked well too!!

Notice how the flesh turns from a paler pink to an orange.  Drain the potatoes and peel off the skin.  You can either grab the skin with your hand and pull it off or use a knife to scrape it off.

Cut the potatoes into smaller chunks and fill your clean sterilized jars leaving 1 inch head space.  Then you fill with either boiling water or a boiling syrup.  I used a light syrup that is one part sugar to 3 parts water.  Fill the liquid leaving 1 inch head space.  Wipe the rims clean with a clean wash cloth.  Put on new lids and adjust caps.  Process in a pressure canner at 11 lbs pressure for dial gauge and 10 lbs pressure for a weighted gauge for 90 minutes for quarts and 65 minutes for pints. Here are some of my jars waiting to go into the canner.

After the pressure has gone back to zero wait about 10 minutes before opening your canner.  Then remove your jars and let sit on a towel on your counter.  Let completely cool and check to make sure they sealed.  If any did not seal put in the refrigerator to use up within a week.  I canned 14 quarts of sweet potatoes from only 11 sweet potatoes.  I guess it helps when you have gigantic potatoes!!  Here are my jars of potatoes.  The potatoes continue to cook in the canner and get darker.  They look just like the store bought and I am sure that they will taste ten times better!!