Topic: Which are the best tasting first early spuds?

[Crystalmoon]

Hi Vinlander I have never heard of Oca so will have to google them....your description of psychological warfare on other half made me laugh out loud  mine tries his best to avoid most fruit & veg, bless him he has no idea what mixture of veggies end up in the tomato based sauces I make for his lasagne...got to get vitamins into him somehow!

Hi Squeezyjohn I grew Jerusalem 'fartichokes' on my old plot but just couldn't cope with the windy after affects.

Hi Lottie lou it is very kind of you to offer me some tubers of Oca - I would only want a couple to try - I haven't googled them yet so will have a look at them then get back to you. xjane 

[squeezyjohn]

Maybe the reason I gave up on the oca was because mine were the large pink-orange ones that are kind of bland.  Mine certainly end up with all kinds of slug holes in them that make preparation more complicated!  A few years back I had a go at yacon which were very productive, making huge yam-like tubers that when peeled and eaten raw had a kind of water-chestnut texture and a slightly sweet nutty watery taste ... in the end we didn't eat them all and I juiced them and boiled it down in to a kind of syrup that was nice on pancakes ... but they didn't justify their space in the ground.

This year I'm trying another exotic tuber thing called Ulluco ... they came in white/green/pink/yellow and purple varieties and are very small like the tiny potatoes you normally end up with after harvesting the big ones so I'm expecting something more like a crop of underground beans than potatoes!  Like oca they develop very late in to the winter time, but are supposed to taste like a mixture between beetroot and peanut ... make of that what you will!

[Crystalmoon]

Hi LottieLou I had a look at Oca & they are definitely very interesting. I had a reshuffle of my plan for the allotment & only have one small raised bed I can spare to grow the Oca in (it is 38.5 x 38.5 x 10 but holds 230 litres of soil). I realise they need a lot of room so I would only need a few tubers to try out in this small raised bed. As long as I can taste test a couple then I assume I can save the tubers for the following year if I decide to give them more space on my plot. I gather they are very difficult to get hold of so I am very grateful indeed for your kind offer. I will of course pay the cost of postage. I'm sorry I don't have much I can swap with you except the new packets of lettuces I listed in the swap shop thread. Do let me know if you want any of the lettuce seeds in return so I can save them for you. Many thanks xjane

[Crystalmoon]

Hi Squeezyjohn yep space is a problem for me as I have already sown many crops that will need to go in during October so a lot of my allotment space is already taken for next years plan. The Yacon syrup sounds interesting though so perhaps one year I will try them. Not sure I fancy the Ulluco - beetroot & peanut - odd mix of flavours! you must let us know if they actually do taste like that xJane