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June 15th, 2011
Sweet potatoes have become a pantry staple in many households and also make a recurring appearance on Babel’s winter menu. Read on to discover how we grow and harvest our sweet potatoes before they’re transformed into delectable meals.
The thin stemcuttings we planted in the sweltering heat of summer did not seem very impressive, but with regular watering, they quickly flourished into lush mounds of foliage. The lovely white & mauve flowers appeared late summer as the plants matured, hiding shyly underneath the leaves.
About a month before harvest, we cut the leaves to encourage the roots to mature. To discourage mice from feeding on the tubers, we covered the beds with a thick layer of mulch made from roughly shredded vines – it worked well. The mice went hungry, and our sweet potatoes grew nicely!
After five months in the ground, we eventually lifted the plants with great expectation and care, making sure that the moist, thin skins on the tubers were not damaged, as this helps prevent them from rotting in storage.
We harvested 4 colours – white, purple, orange and yellow. The orange variety is the old fashion sweet potato known as borrie patat, while the white variety has an interesting long shape, and is more of a collector’s item for speciality chefs.
The tubers are dried for two weeks as we wait for the roots to sweeten, before we send them to Babel restaurant where our chefs will work their magic with this exceptionally nutritious vegetable.
We also plant soetpatat on the farm every year, the secret is to leave them 2 weeks in storage/on the land to “trek suiker” as they say around here. This also helps so preserve them, and you can keep them literally for 10 months more. Soet patat you buy in commercial shops go bad within one week and do not taste sweet. Nowadays farmers are in a hurry to get them on the market, because time is money…
Hi. I am looking for the old yellow (not orange) BORRIE patat. I grew up as a child with my mother making this either as soetpatats or baking it in the oven. I cannot find it anywhere. Where can I buy this.
Dear Barney, sorry we do not have any patats at the moment, we will only plant cuttings in Oct/Nov. We’re not sure about the borrie patat, we’ll ask around. If you are on the farm that time of year, just ask one of the gardeners.
Hi. If you find the proper borriepatat please share the details as I’m also looking for the real deal 🙂
Sure, will do.
By chance found the “real’ deal at a farm stall between Citrusdal and Clanwilliam about two months ago
Bought a bag hoping to propagate from them, but unfortunately they have gone rotten!
So disappointing!
Oh no! Better luck next time.