Sweet potatoes are very susceptible to heat shock, and require a special treatment (called ‘curing’) to allow them to be stored for a long period of time without loss of quality. Storage also poses a major challenge, since sweet potatoes are harvested in late September and must be capable of being stored at least until into December. Sweet-potato consumption actually peaks between Christmas and New Year, since the tuber is highly prized by Swiss consumers during the festive season. Agroscope is currently looking for partners to carry out sweet-potato storage optimisation trials, among others.
