So I conducted an experiment last night with a couple of my most badly damaged sweet potatoes. One ‘Nancy Hall’ and one ‘Vardaman’.

I have read in a few places that if you can hold the sweet potatoes at a temperature between 140F and 170F for a couple hours, it activates an enzyme that converts the starch to maltose, and sweetens them.

It didn’t work. They were starchy and flavorless without a LOT of added sugar. I also could not tel the difference between the Nancy and the Vardaman.

Could it be due to the fact they’re not cured yet? It almost sounded like this method above is a “rapid-cure” method, but perhaps the curing is needed first for that procedure to even work?

I made a mashed out of them, that was pretty good, but needed even more sugar than store-bought sweets would need. I’m hoping this is not indicative of future performance.

Another note: The Nancy Halls are almost white inside when raw, with perhaps the slightest hint of a light orange undertone, but cook up a beautiful golden yellow.