Tag Archives: Tigridia pavonia

Rhizo-bacalhau

We occasionally eat wild fish and bacalhau is a favourite made from Norwegian dried cod that can be found in supermarkets here. More or less anything goes in bacalhau (bacalao) and although most people make it in the same way – layers of potato, fish, tomato and onions, often with chili – the Portuguese have hundreds of ways of preparing baccalao (dried cod). Being self-sufficient, detailed recipes aren¨’t useful and we use whatever is available at the moment. Winter is the time for stored bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes, and taproots. See below the picture for yesterday’s baccalao ingredients with 14 home grown below surface storage organs plus some greens (I’m pretty sure nobody else had this version of the dish…ever!):

Oca (Oxalis tuberosa): yellow and red varieties
Garlic / hvitløk (Allium sativum)
Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia)
Potato / potet (Solanum tuberosum) – 2 varieties
Jerusalem artichokes / jordskokk (Helianthus tuberosus)
Parsnip / pastinakk (Pastinaca sativa)
Scorzonera / scorsonerrot (Scorzonera hispanica)
Common onion / kepaløk (Allium cepa)
Cacomitl (Tigridia pavonia)
Yacon (Polymnia sonchifolia)
Burdock / storborre (Arctium lappa)
Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia)
Parsnip / pastinakk (Pastinaca sativa) shoots – had started shooting in the cellar
Leaf beets / bladbete (Beta vulgaris var. flavescens)  – 3 varieties
Allium nutans (forced in the living room)
plus (not home grown) organic tomatoes, olive oil and olives
(I forgot the dandelion…will add tonight: we make enough that it lasts for several days….and the taste improves!)




Xmas day Rhizofantastigora dinner 2021

Xmas dinner in Malvik has been nut roast and roasted roots every year since 1984! This year there were 27 different roots: parsnip, 15 different varieties of potato, bulb onions, Tigridia (cacomitl), wapato (Sagittaria), carrot, beetroot, oca (red and yellow), Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia), yacon (Polymnia), garlic (Allium sativum), Dioscorea polystachya (Chinese yam) and chicory root (at the top).
The nut roast was made from ground walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds with grated carrots, onion and beetroot with garlic, golpar (Heracleum seed spice), egg, salt, pepper and chili, bedecked with buckwheat groats (home grown by a friend in Czechoslovakia), Himalayan balsam seed,  caraway, dill and alpine bistort bulbils (Polygonum viviparum).


Tubers and roots; December 2020

A gallery of pictures of tubers and roots which were harvested in December when I had a blog-free month!

Edimental-cacomitls

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The best tasting vegetable of the rhizosphere I’ve had the pleasure of eating is Cacomitl, one of the lost crops of the Aztecs, also known as Tigridia (pavonia) and commonly available on those racks of ornamental bulbs. It is also one of the best edimentals, witness the pictures from my garden today (14th July!) below.
I’ll keep this short as I couldn’t possibly do better than the series of witty and informative posts on this plant by my friend (I’ve even shaken his hand now!) Owen Smith on his fabulous Radix: Root Crop Research and Ruminations blog.  You know you need to read these titles:

Gotalottacacomitl

Bulbous Belly Border Blooms – Beautiful

The Bulbous Belly Border 1) Cacomitl – The Flecked and Feline Flower

January Time is Tigridia Time

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The bulbs (in the centre below the ocas and left of the parsnip) are in this picture of my 2013 Xmas Tubasmagoria with 25 different edible tubers of 15 species!  They were: Oxalis tuberosa (Oca); Pastinaca sativa (Parsnip/Pastinakk), Solanum tuberosum (Potato/Potet); Tropaeolum tuberosum (Mashua), Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem Artichoke/Jordskokk), Polymnia edulis (Yacon), Ullucus tuberosus (Ulluco), Petroselinum crispus (Hamburg Parsley/Persillerot), Brachychiton populneus (Kurrajong), Tigridia pavonia (Cacomitl), Dahlia cultivar (Dahlia/Georginer), Lilium martagon (Martagon Lily/Martagonlilje), Anredera cordifolia (Madeira Vine), Canna edulis (Achira) and Colocasia esculenta (Taro)