Topic: Yacon

[saddad]

I have dug up several (@6) Kg's of edible root.. how can I process it so  that we don't have to eat it all at once...
and has anyone any good recipes for it...  :-\

[Jayb]

I find it has fantastic storage qualities (I've still got a few tubers from last year, which are looking great), I've only used it fresh. To store, I just keep the roots in barely moist compost in a box in a dark shed. Best to keep the roots as intact as possible and pull some off as you need it.

 

[Ian Pearson]

I store them in an unheated room in the house (quite cool this year then!) just sitting in a box. They keep fine, although they LOOK a bit dodgy– shrinking and going a bit wrinkly. Taste is okay when first lifted, but gets much better with storage. They taste great -really great- chopped up in stir fries. They maintain their crunchy texture and I really don't know why they are not more widely grown given that they are more productive than potatoes.

It would be interesting to see if they can be frozen for storage.

[Vinlander]

I really don't know why they are not more widely grown given that they are more productive than potatoes.

Apparently some people find them even more 'windy' than jerusalem artichokes, some less so.

It's the same indigestible sugar - inulin - apparently.

I've never bothered with yacon because I assumed they would have the same (wonderful) smoky sweet taste of inulin.

And I got my J.art 'seed' for 80p a pound from the grocers and I'm too mean to pay £5 for a few bits of yacon.

Can anyone compare them from experience?

Cheers.

[Ian Pearson]

Jerusalem artichoke: Ugly, fiddly and hard to clean, invasive, casts deep shade, hard to digest, (but tastes okay, and foolproof to grow.). I grow them, but I don't know why. Most get thrown away.
Yacon: Exotic, exciting, beautiful, well behaved, great tasting, not hard to digest once aged, quick and easy to harvest, and they all get eaten.

Thinking about it, there will be no more JAs on my plot from now on!!

Actually it will probably take me a few years to eliminate the annoying volunteers.

[fi]

Yacon never heard of it have googled it and shall be growing it this year. J A crikey i think the soup i made was more of a puree and bowel prep comes to mind, so any surgeons who need an alternative to picolax could purchase my soup! Shame because i love the flavor of J A.

[Vinlander]

Yacon never heard of it have googled it and shall be growing it this year. J A crikey i think the soup i made was more of a puree and bowel prep comes to mind, so any surgeons who need an alternative to picolax could purchase my soup! Shame because i love the flavor of J A.

JA soup made with a bit of butter is the best in the world by far - at least for the first blissful hour (if you're lucky).

I'm experimenting with JA wine this year - the yeast will cope with the inulin eventually, but will I cope with the taste?

Apparently the Germans make a fantastic schnapps from it - I assume it's smoky? anyone tried it?

Pity it's illegal to make your own, even bigger pity it's fiddly and dangerous if you get it wrong...

Ian makes a good case for yacon - but doesn't say what it tastes like? Ian?

Cheers.

[Ian Pearson]

Hi Vinlander
I'm not very good at describing taste. I wouldn't be much good as a wine buff.

A complication is that the taste of yacon seems to change. When lifted early (before plants are dead) the taste has been described as a cross between apple and watermellon, and very crunchy (raw) or just quite crunchy (cooked). On full maturity, and after a couple of weeks storage, the taste becomes better and better, is slightly less watery, so when cooked has a taste and consistency like soft but crunchy(!) sweetpotato-ish bamboo shoot-ish squash.
I think the taste change may be to do with inulin breaking down in to some other sugar, because when lifted early, there is a hint of indigestibility which disappears with full maturity. But that's a guess.

[Vinlander]

Hi Ian,

Does it have the smoky taste at any point?

For JA fans I think that is key. It makes them taste like globe artichokes - which are uniquely delicious.

I for one think (I don't know) I might get less excited by a taste like "sweetpotato-ish bamboo shoot-ish squash".

Nice, yes, but doesn't sound so unusual I feel I have to try it (I prefer carrot to squash or orange sweet potato anyway).

That won't stop me if I run into it at a reasonable price because I appreciate that subtleties can be just as interesting as strong flavours.

That's why for example I like white-flesh sweet potatoes - like potato but better.

Cheers.

[Ian Pearson]

Hmm, smokey is not the word that comes to mind.