OK, folks, it’s time to get personal. I want to tell you about a sweet potato I know. No, he’s not shaped like a mouse. He’s a reddish little guy I bought a few weeks ago and he’s not doing so well.
Some would say he’s gone bad. A bit of mold and rot have set in, for which I feel pretty guilty. Why’d this happen? Because I didn’t buy said sweet potato for a specific recipe or with any use in mind. I just thought we should have one on hand and since we store them out of sight in the pantry, I lost track of this not-so-sweet potato.
A few days ago, I almost bought a replacement when I was at the supermarket. Then I thought, ‘Wait, the same thing’s gonna happen to this sweet potato.’ If I blogged on wasted food every weekday, maybe I’d be more in tune with this kind of thing…Wait, I do.
If this kind of thing happens to me–someone who’s borderline obsessive about not wasting food in my control–imagine how prevalent it is in “normal” people’s homes.
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Epilogue: I didn’t buy another sweet potato, because I realized it wasn’t needed in any of the four or five dinners my wife and I had planned. Of course, me being me, 
I did cut into the old sweet potato to see if it was salvageable. I bet you’ll be surprised (heck, I was) by just how good the interior looked. A little trimming (cue the uplifting music) and our guy is now back on the road to being eaten. A happy ending for all involved…well, most everyone.
Comments
4 responses to “My Sweet Potato”
Haha, I know exactly that feeling…when you realize you bought something that is going bad before you can use it. It’s the worst. I’m glad to learn that you were able to salvage your sweet potato, though. Excellent news.
This happens to me a lot due to the out-of-site storage of potatoes of all varieties and I’d be more apt to see if it was salvageable if I knew if it were safe. Was your potato actually safe to eat despite its blemishes? Or could the mould have caused other things to happen to make the potato unsuitable for consumption and a better candidate for the compost pile?
It was definitely safe. I’m no food safety expert, but my nose, eyes and tongue all led me to that conclusion.
You’re right about out-of-sight potato storage leading to some surprises. That’s what happened here.
I used to salvage 10-25% edible food from the grocery store produce discards. It involved a lot of trimming and picking through the wilted or bruised parts, but it was very satisfying. The remaining produce went to the chickens and the compost so nothing was wasted. I learned a lot about fruit and veggie salvage back then!