Growing yacon may not be tops on your gardening priority list… but why not give it a try?
I was over at Mart’s place this weekend, checking out his cool wicking beds and seeing how his permaculture plans have progressed. While there, I saw a big, rough-looking plant and asked him what it was.
“Yacon,” he replied, “And it’s time to harvest.”
So harvest we did, and tasted it. Here’s the documentary evidence, thanks to Mart:
I got a bunch of chunks to plant in the food forest. Awesome plant.
Growing yacon is pretty easy but it requires consistent moisture – Mart’s wicking bed makes it work like a charm.
9 responses to “Growing Yacon”
Awesome! So this is what is also called "jicama". I have noticed some upscale salad bars have a grated jicama as one of the ingredients. Very tasty.
It's sometimes called Jicama… but it's not jicama. Common names are a pain in the neck.
This is a member of the Asteraceae family (think Daisies, sunflowers, etc.), whereas the "jicama" is in Fabacaea (the bean family). They grow quite differently, though both crops will apparently do well in Florida.
Argh… common names. Just like half the tubers in the tropical zone worldwide are called "yams".
Yeah. "Sapote" is another one. Pain in the neck.
And don't forget "cherry." There's another one.
Jamaican cherry, Surinam cherry, acerola cherry, cherry of the Rio Grande, ground cherry, choke cherry… and none of those are Prunus.
It tasts better after a month of storage or so (and has more calories) because more of those fructooligosaccharides break down into simple fructose. Tubers are usually peeled, mostly because of the resinous taste of the skin, but also because it has some of the same compounds that are found in the leaves that might cause kidney damage with heavy consumption.
Very cool, Bill. It tasted great right from the ground… can't wait to see what they taste like in a few more weeks.
Yep that is us, I got some of them stock piled in my fridge I hear they get sweeter with time.
Do you know where I could locate a yacon plant or some rhizomes to plant out? I'll be in the Orlando area visit family for Christmas. I'd like to hit up a few nurseries in the area to get some other things as well that aren't very common in the panhandle. Thanks!