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How Much Are Sweet Potatoes?

10 years ago

We did not grow our own this year, too much going on. So I bought some yesterday at the Dollar General store. They were three pounds for a dollar. I bought six pounds. I like them candied, no marshmallows, just baked with butter, in a casserole with crunchy topping including pecans fixed like my Mother used to fix them, fried with butter and brown sugar. How much are sweet potatoes where you are?

Sue

Featured Answer

nancyofnc

10 years ago

North Carolina is the number one producer of sweet potatoes in the US, 40% of the nation's supply. We have a Ham 'n Yam festival in Smithfield in May where huge crates are set out with paper bags for anyone attending the event to fill for free. Most of the restaurants offer baked sweet potato and fries. Sweet potato pies far surpass pumpkin and are home baked year 'round.

In the chain grocery stores the prices are about 89c but the farmers markets have them for 25c to 35c per pound most of the year.

They keep a long time open in a cool dark pantry but not near regular potatoes, onions, or apples. Don't refrigerate them unless they are cooked or they will become bitter. Cook them with the skins on for the best flavor, and eat the skin too for more nutrition. The county extension agencies discourage backyard gardeners from planting sweet potatoes to prevent potentially harmful blights, pests or bacteria's from affecting the big farmers cash crops.

If you have a sprouted sweet potato, cut it and suspend it over water with toothpicks, put it on your window sill and soon you'll be rewarded with beautiful leaves as the vines and roots grow. My mom grew them that way from the earliest time I can remember, and pinned the vines to her curtains over the sink where they grew happily into the winter.

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Comments (7)

grainlady_ks
10 years ago
They are 33-cents/pound at Aldi.
Marilyn Sue thanked grainlady_ks
ci_lantro
10 years ago
No good deals on sweet potatoes up here on the Frozen Tundra. Aldi up here sells them by 'the each'...normally 79 cents each. Last week, they had them on special for 49 cents each which is about the best deal I've found. I bought six. Average weight a little over 11 ounces.

Winter squash is the normal Thanksgiving side in these parts. No doubt because we can grow great winter squashes but the growing season is too short and generally too cool for sweet potatoes.
Marilyn Sue thanked ci_lantro
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Interestingly enough, I did it both ways, grew the slips, and planted those and then at the end, I just took the whole chunk with leaves on it along with the piece that it was started from and planted those too. I would say that I saw MORE production from the plants where the chunk was left vs just the slip. In fact, I had a few plants come up from potatoes that escaped my harvesting last year, and they did very well comparitably. I do think the problem (at least partially) was that where the plants sprawled out and grew, they were never able to get deep enough to produce large roots (more taters from the main plant) because when I went to take them up, they were very close to the surface and they had much smaller roots/taters. vs again last year, where I had to practically dig up my whole garden to get them up. I will definitely do more in 2009! Which was another question I had, should I still be able to use the small taters from THIS YEARS crop to make slips for next year? any reason that doing this would be more negative than positive?
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Well, just tell the yellow jackets to GO BACK TO GEORGIA TECH where they belong!!!!! ;) Seriously, I don't know the answer to your question--I just planted sweet potatoes for the very first time this year. Should we be harvesting about them now? I don't think it will get cold enough tomorrow night to kill them, but you never know. I hope you don't get stung. :)
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party_music50
10 years ago
Typically .99/lb here (or more) and I love them!
Marilyn Sue thanked party_music50
lindac92
10 years ago
$.79 a pound last week.....
Marilyn Sue thanked lindac92
annie1992
10 years ago
They are 99 cents a pound at the local Meijer, but I saw Aldi was running a sale, 3 lbs for $1.49. I still need to pick some up.

I don't grow my own, they don't do well for me, and so I've given them up, I can usually buy them far more cheaply than I can grow them, I get little skinny fingers instead of nice thick sweet potatoes.

Annie
Marilyn Sue thanked annie1992
ci_lantro
10 years ago
Aldi special this week--sweet potatoes are 39 cents each, not per pound. I'll pick up a few more, cook them and freeze. (Cooked sweet potatoes freeze well.) I don't have much luck storing them...least not for over 2-3 weeks. Prolly has a lot to do with how they've been warehoused & how long they languish in the bins at the grocery.

I was happy to see that sweet potato french fries have crept onto the menu in a few local restaurants but at a premium over the price of regular FF's.

I love sweet potatoes...I can eat the leftovers cold, out of the refrigerator. Yep, I eat the skin, too.
Marilyn Sue thanked ci_lantro

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