Why Is My Sweet Potato Pie Not Firm?

One of my family’s all-time favorite pies is sweet potato. I can’t remember a single holiday throughout my life when we didn’t have at least one. But, the hardest thing about making them is knowing when they are done. Sweet potato pie is done when the pie is set everywhere except the very center which will still be a little jiggly.

At this point, when you stick a knife or toothpick into the pie filling, it will come out moist, but clean. If you cook until the center is set completely, it will often be overcooked. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss in more detail how you can tell when a sweet potato pie is done. A sweet potato pie can be overcooked if you cook it until the center of the pie is done.

This is due to something called carryover heat, which means that even though food is removed from the heat source, it will continue to cook internally for a certain length of time. Carryover heat is the reason sweet potato pie should be removed from the oven when the center is still jiggly.

1. Overcooking can cause the pie to be tough and pull away from the crust around the edges.
2. The filling will also crack when overcooked.
3. Carryover heat has to do with thermodynamics which means that even after the heat source is removed, the food will continue to cook because the heat spreads so that whatever type of food it is doesn’t begin to cool until the entire cookie or piece of meat or pie, in this case, reaches the same temperature.

When the outer part of the pie tests done when you insert a toothpick into it and it comes out clean but the center is still a little jiggly, the pie is done. But, if the center of the pie is still very loose, let it cook for a few minutes more. If your sweet potato pie is runny and doesn’t hold its shape when cut, it was either not cooked long enough or too much liquid was added to the pie filling.

1. If you inadvertently add too much liquid to the pie filling, before it is baked you should add a little flour to fix the problem.
2. If the sweet potato pie is runny because it wasn’t baked long enough, bake it for a few more minutes until the center if just a little jiggly.
3. It is really upsetting to serve a beautiful sweet potato or any other kind of fruit pie that is baked in the pie crust, but when eaten, the crust is soggy and doughy and does not taste done.

Pies that are made by cooking the filling and baking the crust separately are not that difficult to make and to know that the crust is cooked perfectly. But, when the filling is baked in the crust, it is hard to tell whether the crust has gotten completely done.

1. If you use a glass pie pan, it is a little easier to tell whether the crust is done by holding the pie up and looking at the bottom of the crust.
2. But, here is the trick I use when baking a pie that calls for the filling to be baked in the crust.
3. I prebake the crust for approximately 10 minutes until the crust appears to be getting done but has not yet started browning.

At that point, I pour in my pie filling and bake by the directions called for in the recipe I am using.

How do you fix a runny sweet potato pie?

To fix a runny sweet potato pie, add some flour to the filling before baking it. Alternatively, you can bake it for a few more minutes to make it firm. You can avoid a runny sweet potato pie in the future by baking it for enough time, using fresh sweet potatoes, and not boiling your sweet potatoes.

How do you keep sweet potatoes firm?

How to Store Sweet Potatoes – The best way to store your sweet potatoes is in a cool, dry, and dark area, like your pantry or the back corner on your kitchen countertop. Keep them in a bowl or basket so that they’re self-contained, and always thoroughly wash and scrub their skin before you cook them.

• Don’t store potatoes of any variety in the refrigerator, as the cold air can activate their sugars and starches, causing them to spoil faster.
• A simple sign of this structural change is when tiny white specks appear in raw sweet potatoes.
• Store them away from a heat source, too, per the U.S.
• Sweet Potato Council.

And while you shouldn’t put sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, you can, surprisingly, freeze sweet potatoes. Frozen sweet potatoes may be stored for up to 12 months. You must start with cooked sweet potatoes, which should be peeled and boiled. Once a fork can easily pierce their flesh, slice or mash the cooked sweet potatoes and top them off with a small amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice, which will preserve their vibrant orange color.

Should sweet potato pie be jiggly?

The center of the pie should have some give; it should jiggle slightly in the center. The pie has an internal temperature of 175°F on an instant-read thermometer when done. If you don’t want to take the temperature, a knife inserted into the edge of the filling should come out moist but clean.

Can you overcook a sweet potato pie?

How to tell when sweet potato pie is done? – The pie is done once the filling has become firm around the outer edges but is still jiggly in the center. It will continue to set and firm up as it cools. Be careful not to overbake it. Overbaking is the main reason the filling will crack.

Can I leave sweet potato pie out overnight?

Can sweet potato pies stay unrefrigerated? – Sweet potato pie does need to be kept in the fridge, unfortunately. It contains both milk and eggs, and therefore it should not be kept at room temperature for longer than a couple of hours.

How long do sweet potatoes need to cure?

Skip to main content You’ve worked hard to grow healthy sweet potatoes. Keep them that way off the vine using these best practices. One of the most important things to keep in mind when harvesting sweet potatoes is that the roots of the sweet potato are alive. The roots require sufficient oxygen to survive, even in storage.

1. Changes in the environment, such as temperature and relative humidity, will affect the shelf life of the sweet potato.
2. Eeping these facts in mind will help you make good management decisions for your sweet potato crop.
3. Sweet potatoes are usually stored in nonrefrigerated commercial or farm warehouses.

This method of storing offers the primary advantage of orderly marketing several months after harvesting. After they are harvested, sweet potatoes should be cured. Do not wash sweet potatoes before curing. Curing promotes the healing of cuts and bruises that occur during harvesting and handling.

It also protects the roots from storage diseases and excessive shrinkage while starches are being converted to sugars and other flavor components. Curing the roots increases the post-harvest life of the sweet potato. To cure roots, hold them at 85 degrees F with 90 to 95 percent relative humidity (RH) for 4 to 7 days.

After curing, reduce the storage temperature to 55 to 60 degrees F at 80 to 85 percent RH. Most properly cured sweet potato cultivars will keep for 4 to 7 months. Due to the sweet potato’s tropical origin, roots will develop chilling injury if held at temperatures below 54 degrees F.

1. Short periods at temperatures as low as 50 degrees F will not cause damage, but after a few days at 50 degrees F or shorter periods at lower temperatures, sweet potatoes may develop flesh discoloration, internal breakdown, off-flavors, hard cores when cooked, and increased susceptibility to decay.
2. Temperatures above 60 degrees F will stimulate sprout development (especially when combined with high humidity), pithiness, and internal cork (a symptom of a viral disease) when the virus is present.

Sweet potatoes are usually stored in bulk bins or slatted crates. Palletization of crates and the use of pallet boxes facilitate handling. Sweet potatoes can be cured in palletized field boxes in a room designed to provide recommended conditions for curing.

1. After curing, the sweet potatoes can be moved to rooms in which storage conditions are maintained continuously.
2. Refrigeration is used in some large sweet potato storage facilities to extend the marketing season when ventilation alone will not maintain low enough temperatures.
3. Sweet potatoes are usually washed and graded, and sometimes waxed, before being shipped to market.

Consult the USDA Standards for Grades of Sweet Potatoes for details on the sorting and grading of sweet potatoes at https://www.ams.usda.gov. Roots can be treated with a fungicide to reduce decay during marketing. Consumer packaging of sweet potatoes in film bags or overwrapped trays is done to aid marketing and should not be done before storage.

Can you save sweet potato pie filling?

Slide the foil-wrapped filling into a freezer-safe bag to protect against freezer burn. Store frozen fillings for three to four months, which conveniently coincides with the holiday baking season. Plan to freeze the filling in the pan you’ll use for baking.

How do I know when my pie is done?

By: Ellen Appelbaum, Lubicom Marketing Staff Like most great cooking, the picture-perfect pie is both a science and an art. It’s worth taking a moment to acquaint yourself with a few important prep details for these well-loved desserts. “Crusty and Flaky” – If You’re Talking About Pie, These Are Compliments A major element of every pie is, of course, the crust. You may be comfortable making your own crust, but if that’s not your thing, take heart. There are perfectly good pre-baked crusts at your favorite store. By the way, yes, you do pre-bake the crust. A pie with a wet filling (apple and pumpkin, anyone?) needs a firm foundation.

Pre-baking gives the pie a richer color, too. There are many ins and outs of how to make a great pie crust, and these deserve their own article. We’re focusing on the filling today. No Pies Were Harmed in the Making of This Dessert Part of what makes a pie so exciting to bring to the table is the actual moment of presentation.

You worked hard, and you want it to be pretty! But you don’t want the insides to be raw. Or burnt. So how do you tell if a pie is done without slicing into it? We modern cooks can breathe a sigh of relief that we’re not baking our pies over a wood fire. The filling of a pumpkin pie is custard (which is why it’s so much fun to eat). But that’s why it’s also a bit of a challenge. When you check this pie for doneness, nudge the pan a little and see how much the pie filling is moving. The part closer to the edge of the pie pan should be firm, but the inside should be a bit jiggly. An Apple a Day On to apple pie, or other fruit-filled pies like peach and pear. Look for a nice, golden crust, and also check the vent holes that you cut into the top crust before you started baking. Is the filling bubbling? It should do so for about five minutes before you take the pie out of the oven. A time-tested way to do this is to stick a toothpick (or a shish-kebab skewer) into a piece of the fruit in the filling.