Most sweet potato varieties sweeten during cooking thanks to the action of an enzyme that attacks starch and breaks it down to maltose, a sugar made up of two glucose molecules that’s about a third as sweet as table sugar. Moist or “soggy” varieties convert as much as 75% of their starch to maltose, so they seem permeated with syrup! The enzyme starts to make maltose when the tightly packed starch granules absorb moisture and expand, beginning around 135ºF/57ºC, and it stops when the rising heat denatures it, at around 170ºF/75ºC. Slow baking therefore gives the enzyme a longer time to work than does rapid cooking in steam, boiling water, or a microwave, and produces a sweeter result. Freshly harvested “green” roots available in the autumn have less enzyme activity and so don’t become as sweet or moist.