Product Type: Vegetables – Sweet Potato
Stage: Handling & Storage, Processing & Packaging
Problem: Physical damage to sweet potato increasing susceptibility to decay
Solution: Curing sweet potatoes which can cure wounds

1. The skin and outer body of the sweet potato is easily damaged during harvest. The damage leads to water loss and increases the risk of decay.
   
2. Curing damaged sweet potato skin can lead to “wound healing.” This avoids the rot conditions which affect surface-damaged sweet potatoes.
   
   
3. Processing: The conditions necessary for curing and “wound healing” involve holding roots at high humidity (>90 to 100%) at temperatures of 25–32 Celsius. This “curing” period should last several days to one week.
4. During the curing period, the sweet potatoes should be held in storage bins without any external fans or other evaporative cooling for about one week. This period provides the conditions necessary for the sweet potato structure to fill out and heal and surface wounds. The sweet potatoes should be cooled after this post-curing storage period.