Updated September 2019
One of my favorite all-time "veggies" is the Sweet Potato! We grow ours in a small 8'x2'x20" deep raised bed garden and always get a pretty good yield for the 2 of us ... with a few to share with family of course. Sweet potatoes are one of my oldest grandson's favorites! So gather up your sweet potatoes and get canning ... I only had a small amount to pressure can this year, so what I had yielded 5 wide-mouth pint jars.
Method
Wash potatoes and boil or steam until partially soft (15 to 20 minutes). Remove skins. Cut medium potatoes, if needed, so that pieces are uniform in size. Caution: Do not mash or puree pieces. I prefer to cut them into large "coins" or thick slices/chunks.
Fill jars, leaving 1-inch head space. Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart to the jar, if desired. Cover with your choice of fresh boiling water or syrup, leaving 1-inch head space.
Note - I only use hot water and salt most of the time so the sweet potatoes can be used in a variety of ways, such as mashed with butter. If using a syrup I would choose the "very light" or "light." Of course, that's personal preference and certainly up to you. Canned sweet potatoes are very soft and best used when mashing for sweet potato souffle, baked in sweet bread, or other similar dishes.
Syrups for Canning Fruit/Sweet Potatoes
Adding syrup to canned fruit/sweet potatoes helps to retain their flavor, color, and shape. It does not prevent the spoilage of these foods. The guidelines for preparing and using syrups (Table 1) offer a new "very light" syrup, which approximates the natural sugar content of many fruits. The sugar content in each of the five syrups is increased by about 10 percent. Quantities of water and sugar to make enough syrup for a canner load of pints or quarts are provided for each syrup type.Method
Heat water and sugar together. Bring to a boil and pour over raw fruits/sweet potatoes in jars. For hot packs, bring water and sugar to boil, add fruit, reheat to boil, and fill into jars immediately.
| Table 1. Preparing and using syrups. | ||||||
| Measures of Water and Sugar | ||||||
| Syrup Type | Approx. % Sugar | For 9-Pt Load (1) | For 7-Qt Load | Fruits Commonly packed in syrup (2) | ||
| Cups Water | Cups Sugar | Cups Water | Cups Sugar | |||
| Very Light | 10 | 6-1/2 | 3/4 | 10-1/2 | 1-1/4 | Approximates natural sugar levels in most fruits and adds the fewest calories. |
| Light | 20 | 5-3/4 | 1-1/2 | 9 | 2-1/4 | Very sweet fruit. Try a small amount the first time to see if your family likes it. |
| Medium | 30 | 5-1/4 | 2-1/4 | 8-1/4 | 3-3/4 | Sweet apples, sweet cherries, berries, grapes. |
| Heavy | 40 | 5 | 3-1/4 | 7-3/4 | 5-1/4 | Tart apples, apricots, sour cherries, gooseberries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums. |
| Very Heavy | 50 | 4-1/4 | 4-1/4 | 6-1/2 | 6-3/4 | Very sour fruit. Try a small amount the first time to see if your family likes it. |
| ||||||
Adjust lids and process following the recommendations in Table 1 and Table 2.
| Table 1. Recommended process time for Sweet Potatoes in a dial-gauge pressure canner. | ||||||
| Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of | ||||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | Process Time | 0-2,000 ft | 2,001-4,000 ft | 4,001-6,000 ft | 6,001-8,000 ft |
| Hot | Pints | 65 min | 11 lb | 12 lb | 13 lb | 14 lb |
| Quarts | 90 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |
| Table 2. Recommended process time for Sweet Potatoes in a weighted-gauge pressure canner. | ||||
| Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of | ||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | Process Time | 0-1,000 ft | Above 1,000 ft |
| Hot | Pints | 65 min | 10 lb | 15 lb |
| Quarts | 90 | 10 | 15 | |
Reference National Center for Home Food Preservation
Enjoy,
Mary
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