Sweet potato slips

[prairiegarden]

It's difficult and fairly expensive to get slips for sweet potatoes in the Canadian prairies so sprouting them from the store.  One , that I think may have been sprayed with inhibiter as it took weeks to start showing any sign of life, has thick stems and fairly short distances between leaves, is there a chance this may be a bush variety or is this likely to be a result of the inhibiter? Now it's got going it's pretty vigorous but wondering what effect if any, the inhibiter  chemicals might have on the potatoes it births. Most of the sweet potatoes tubers are the brown skinned orange  fleshed ones but this one is purple skinned, in case that makes a difference.

[philagardener]

I've had some store-purchased sweet potatoes sprout readily, while others will just sit there for months and eventually rot without sprouting.

There are a few bush types, so you will just have to see what you get if you don't know the variety.

[prairiegarden]

That's interesting, this is the first one I've ever had that didn't have slips within a week or at the most two if the room is cool, sometimes within a couple of days. I changed the water when it started to get yucky a couple of times for the reluctant one, and even reversed the tuber in case I'd put it in upside down,(still never entirely sure which is the right end to put into the water). So I was thinking perhaps eventually any inhibiter got washed off although no idea if that's how they work, and I just noticed a comment in another thread that supposedly inhibiter isn't used on them anyway. It's odd in that case that some are so stubborn and others so eager.

[prairiegarden]

Took the main shoots off and it's looking very much like the thing is a bush variety which is making very happy as up til now they've all been vines. I started them for an easy green to raise inside over the winter but the vines are still often a nuisance. The biggest shoot is about 8 inches long but already has a whole lot of roots, so it went intol a pot, it's the only shoot that did that though. Now to see if I can keep the shoots all alive for the next 3 months. I don't much care about the others, but really want to keep this one if its a bush form. The leaves tasted better too, than the common orange tubered ones, which imo need to be cooked a little to be palatable.

If this continues going to need another set of lights...far too cold to put out but the lotus and sweet potato are already taking up more than their share of space.

[steev]

Is that bush one white-fleshed? I was dissuaded from the whites, thinking carotene a plus, but if the white is better greens maybe time to reassess.

[prairiegarden]

dug a tiny bit out to see and yes it is. The skin is losing the purple color though, while it's sitting in the water, which I didn't expect...or even notice until today. It's fading into almost the same reddish tan colour as the others, had to look again to see that the purple is still there, although also faded, on the upper part which is out of the water.(Although it was IN the water for at least three weeks, probably more, before I reversed it.) That seems a bit weird. This thing is full of surprises. I wonder if the skin pigment inhibits sprouting and only when it is worn off in soil or water does it get down to business? Could that be why some sprout so enthusiastically and others don't want to sprout at all?

[paquebot]

I suspect that curing at higher temperatures has an effect on sprouting. I have also had trouble getting some store-bought tubers to sprout this year. No problem if I don't get any success as several local garden centers will have them.

Martin

[eastex]

So, I've read that sweet potato leaves are edible, but have never tried them.  prairiegarden, how do you use yours/prepare them for eating?

[prairiegarden]

It sounds as though Steev would be better one to ask, I only learned they were edible last year so am new to the party too. I was looking out for a green which was easy to raise over the winter and as a green nothing could possibly be easier . From the tubers most often seen here with the copper skin mostly I just chop up the leaves and tender tips and add to scrambled eggs with onions and whatever else seems right at the time. I didn't much care for them raw. Had a nibble on a couple of small leaves from the purple skin white tuber and that very small sample was quite fine raw so that would have more possibilities.
I imagine you could probably use them in much the same way you might use spinach as the leaves wilt in much the same way when cooked. Maybe a Philippino (sp?) cookbook might have some interesting recipes as someone told me they are commonly eaten there.

[rangardener]

We grow sweet potatoes mainly as a productive summer leafy vegetable. (We don’t have enough summer heat here for certain late varieties that my wife loves. She’s very picky.) The easiest way to prepare: dip them in boiling water for a few seconds, pull out and drain. Add a bit of soy sauce pre-mixed with chopped garlic. (Try making variations of the sauce to your liking.) Point: don’t COOK them.

[prairiegarden]

Mar 24, 2016 8:56:55 GMT -5 rangardener said:

We grow sweet potatoes mainly as a productive summer leafy vegetable. (We don’t have enough summer heat here for certain late varieties that my wife loves. She’s very picky.) The easiest way to prepare: dip them in boiling water for a few seconds, pull out and drain. Add a bit of soy sauce pre-mixed with chopped garlic. (Try making variations of the sauce to your liking.) Point: don’t COOK them.

Why not? As far as that goes, dipping them in boiling water for a few seconds is cooking them as much as throwing a handful into some scrambled eggs, really, since the eggs are cooking at a much much lower heat but why the warning not to cook them? There are a whole whack of recipes for sweet potato greens I found today while trying to find out why they shouldn't be cooked and they ALL cooked them, often commenting that they could be used to replace spinach and wouldn't leave an oxalic aftertaste. I'm confused.

[rangardener]

You are right, prairiegarden.

By "don't COOK them" I loosely mean "don't cook them to death", a very short blanching keeps the texture nicely. They cook down a lot and are so much softer than many other common greens when well cooked. BTW, I often read something can be used to replace spinach, but to me nothing is like spinach, taste or texture-wise. Just my own taste, I guess. 

Sorry for the confusion. :-)

[paquebot]

There are sweet potato varieties which do not make tubers and are grown only for the leaves. You can find them in Asian markets. They are also eaten in parts of Africa.

Martin

[reed]

Wow, ya really do learn something new everyday, had no clue you could eat sweet potato leaves.  Did a little googleing and found this from University of Arkansas.  www.uaex.edu/publications/PDF/FSA-6135.pdf. Will definitely be sampling some sweet potato leaves this year. 
 

[darrenabbey]

I can't find the reference right now, but I've heard that sometimes sweet potatoes are treated with a sprouting inhibitor... a sprouting inhibitor that can be overridden by treating the tubers with a solution of ascorbic acid. I haven't experimented with this, but figured it would be worth mentioning here.