I got this as Erythronium dens-canis “Snowflake” but the petals aren’t pure white, presumably seed propagated..
Leaves, flowers and bulbs of Erythroniums have been used traditionally…
Category Archives: Tubers
Jicama-ahipa à la Henry quinoa
One of the culinary highlights of the year is the annual Jicama (hee-ka-ma) meal….if you’ve never eaten yam beans or Jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus), you haven’t lived!
I grow this subtropical vegetable in my office, which only gets sunlight for maximum 1 hour a day which isn’t optimal conditions (they are usually grown in open fields), but being a climber originates in forests, so it tolerates shade. I grew it’s brother on-climbing Ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa) beside it, but that species didn’t produce much (perhaps it’s more sensitive to light?). I also didn’t think the taste was as good. Both species died down at the end of the year and I harvested the tubers in early January!
Jicama tubers are best eaten raw and are crispy and a little sweet. Being one of the lost crops of the Incas, much more popular in the Americas than in Europe, I served them sliced with a cooked quinoa mix – mixed home grown Quinoa and black-grained Henry quinoa from Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), flavoured with chilis and lemony sanshō seeds (Zanthoxylum piperitum or Japanese pepper).
NB! Both species, Ahipa and Jicama are normally started from seed which I haven’t succeeded in growing myself!
Day Two: I didn’t eat it all yesterday, I needed a bit more, so I cooked up a third species quinoa, Fat Hen quinoa (Meldestokk quinoa), from the seed of one plant of Fat Hen or Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album). It was added to yesterday’s to give a Three species quinoa and jicama salad (two pictures added)
Soba stir-fried cellar vegetables
Yam daisy aboriginal tuber cultivation
Yam daisy or murnong (Microseris lanceolata) from Australia, harvest outside in Malvik on 12th November 2011. I’ve had lower yields of other crops! Needs a bit of selection, but not an impossible project I think!
This post is inspired by this video about aboriginal Yam daisy agriculture, introduction of livestock by the Europeans largely destroyed this sustainable agriculture… https://www.farmingsecrets.com/growing-yam-daisies-australias-earliest-agriculture
Rice lily
The smallest of the tubers in yesterday’s dinner (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=9577) was so-called rice lily or riceroot (Fritillaria camschatensis), small (but many) sweet tasting tubers that often lie right on the surface all winter! One of the hardiest plants found in Western North America from Oregon to Alaska, Northern Japan and the Russian Far East…and quite a common ornamental for its almost black flowers…
See also my blog post Riceroot and Hog Peanuts (http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=480)
Forcing Andean root crops for winter greens
I was potting up ocas and ullucos outside this afternoon (to force for winter greens) and there was a sudden hail storm 
. The pots are brought inside and I use the edible shoots from the tubers all winter!
..and end of the year Yacon harvest
Yacon (Polymnia edulis/Smallanthus sonchifolius) also gives higher yields when grown on inside until the end of the year in a large pot; however, it is much less day length sensitive than ulluco and oca…when I had a cold greenhouse, yacon would give at least as good a yield as this by October…
The sweet tasting tubers are becoming quite popular in recent years! Yacon is in the Asteraceae, the roots containing inulin like its edible tubered cousins Jerusalem artichoke and Dahlia.
End of the year Andes in Malvik tuber harvest
As the psychedelic (colour not effect) Andean tubers Oca (Oxalis tuberosa), Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) and Achira (Canna edulis) benefit from a longer season than I can give them outside, I grow them in buckets which I bring inside and harvest around Xmas time for a colourful christmas dinner…so here’s an album of this year’s harvest!
I was very surprised by one of the best ulluco harvests here, despite the leaves being mostly frozen off before moving the pots inside and not regrowing…I don’t understand…
Lily-chufa-parsley stir fry
Tonight’s dinner was a lily – chufa – parsley stir-fry (chinese style) with buckwheat noodles…
Lily = bulbs of Lilium martagon (Martagon lily), an important forest garden source of carbohydrate, liking the shady conditions of deciduous woodlands
Chufa – the delicious tubers of the grass Cyperus esculentus
My first Yacon flower after 10 years of trying!
I also finally flowered a yacon here! I’ve been growing Yacon now for 10 years, my first harvest here was on 28th October 2006 and I was pleased that I got 1/2 kg for each plant! I had got used to low yields on other South Americans like oca and ulluco when harvested in October, so this was a pleasant surprise!
This yacon was grown on the balcony outside in a large pot, was frosted 2 weeks ago, resulting in some leaf drop, but having moved it inside it has recovered and the flower bud has finally opened!
