12 MOTHER EARTH NEWS December 2016/January 2017The Gardener’s Table
add lime unless the soil’s pH is very
low because sweet potatoes like slightly
acidic soil. The soil they thrive in is
deeply dug, so that the long roots can
penetrate it, and very well-drained. If
your soil is heavy, dig or till in a gen-
erous amount of compost, and probe
the bed with a broadfork or a common
digging fork to open up channels for
water and air.
The other key ingredients are sun
and heat. While you’re enduring the
summer doldrums, your sweet pota-
toes will be rejoicing. Where summers
are cool, gardeners often compensate
by planting tubers into sheets of black
infrared-transmitting plastic, or grow-
ing them in a greenhouse, or both.
The flesh of sweet potatoes varies
from nearly white to deep orange. I
prefer the latter as much for its beta
carotene content as for its moist texture
and good looks. The cultivar that does
the best for me is the highly adaptable
‘Beauregard,’ which has good disease
resistance. In areas where root-knotnematodes are prevalent, ‘Centennial’
is a better choice.
Sweet potatoes root so easily that
you can just bury one in the ground
and it will grow — as long as it hasn’tbeen treated with a sprout inhibitor.
The simplest way to grow them is to
buy plants, called “slips,” which are
shoots sprouted from the tuber’s eyes
and then rooted. You can find themBoth shallots and sweet potatoes caramelize beautifully when roasted, their
flavors intensified. Together, they make a sweet and savory winter meal, es-
pecially when accented with sage and smoky bacon. They make a good side
dish when cooked together in a pan, but you can also strew them around a
pork roast or a roasting fowl. If they’re the main event, serve them with a
salad of winter greens, such as cabbage or kale. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the bacon
cubes briefly in a small pan over very low heat to render some of the fat, stir-
ring frequently and being careful not to get them too brown. Remove them
with a slotted spoon and set them aside, leaving the fat in the pan.
Peel the shallots, separating the individ-
ual cloves. Cut the peeled sweet potatoes
into 1^1 ⁄ 2 -inch chunks. Combine the shal-
lots and sweet potatoes in a bowl and pour
in the bacon fat. Add the salt and a gener-
ous grating of pepper, and mix the ingre-
dients thoroughly. Place them in a shallow
baking dish or roasting pan, large enough
to contain them in one layer. Roast, stirring
occasionally, for 1 hour or until the sweet
potatoes feel soft when pierced with the tip
of a knife. Add the bacon and sage, stir to
mix, and return to the oven to cook for 5
to 10 minutes more to crisp the bacon and
sage a bit. Serve hot or warm.Ingredients- 4 ounces slab bacon
cut into^1 ⁄ 4 -inch cubes
(about^1 ⁄ 2 cup)
-^3 ⁄ 4 pound large shallots - 4 medium sweet
potatoes (about 2^1 ⁄ 2
pounds), peeled - 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- Black pepper, freshly
ground - 2 tbsp fresh sage, finely
chopped (or 1 tbsp dried)
Sweet Potatoes Roasted with Whole Shallots
Start sweet potato slips in pots (left). Peel shallot sections like you would garlic cloves (right).p 10-14 Gardeners Table_c.indd 12 10/4/16 10:15 AM