Whatever You Do, Don't Store Your Sweet Potatoes Beside These 2 Veggies

Savory garlic and onions belong next to sweet potatoes ... on your plate, that is. Indeed, some of our go-to sweet potato recipes (like these crispy baked beef and sweet potato empanadas) call for garlic and onions. However, before they reach the plate, keep your sweet potatoes far from garlic and onions. Those pungent beauties may work wonders together in your aromatic dishes, but when stored in close proximity to sweet potatoes, the ethylene gas they emit will cause nearby spuds to sprout faster, growing eyes and roots.

When ethylene gas comes into contact with susceptible produce, it speeds up the ripening process — hello, wasted grocery money. Plus, those subtly nutty and saccharine sweet potatoes can absorb the garlic and onions' penetrating aromas, altering that otherwise craveable and dimensional flavor profile for the worse. Get the most out of your veggies by storing those tubers right.

For optimal freshness and flavor, sweet potatoes thrive in a dry, dark, and cool place (ideally, between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit), meaning your refrigerator is not a good fit. These tubers like it chill (not cold), and the fridge's temperature is too low for these subterranean veggies. In the fridge, sweet potatoes are liable to developing unpleasantly hard centers as their cellular structure physically changes to adapt to the harsher, unventilated climate. The starches even start converting into sugars, which can impact the potato's performance in the kitchen.

After choosing the best sweet potatoes at the grocery store, stash them in a paper bag or basket in the pantry or cupboard. If you live in a home with a basement, that'll work too. Stored properly, sweet potatoes can retain their quality for up to a month. Just make sure none of the spuds have any soft spots or bruises. These compromised areas tend to prompt quicker spoilage, which can spread to all the other nearby spuds as they sit. Cook with bruised potatoes right away. 

The only time sweet potatoes should be transferred to the crisper drawer is when they're beginning to show signs of spoilage at room temperature or if they've been peeled and cut. For the latter, submerge spuds in a bowl of water until they're ready to use. Still, even in these cases, make sure there aren't any onions or garlic sitting nearby — they're bad neighbors here, too. 

As for your garlic and onions, store them at room temperature with uninhibited ventilation and air circulation. A basket on the countertop works great, if you keep their papery peels on to minimize oxidation and sunlight exposure. These two aromatics can even be safely stored side-by-side in the same basket. Don't worry if the garlic bulbs grow green sprouts, either. They're harmless and easy to remove. Here, and away from bags of sweet potatoes, garlic and onions will retain their quality for multiple weeks.