My friend Dave gave me some New Zealand yams to grow on the allotment. I’ve never tried to grow them and also I wasn’t quite sure how they would like our climate.
They grew well, the foliage looked healthy and it even flowered. It said to try to harvest it after the plant wilted after some frost. Yesterday I pulled out all the little tubers from under one plant. It was quite a good harvest – there are two more plants there.
The next task was to find a recipe. Anything can be found online, I did and we had it tonight for our tea, with some giant couscous. It was a very simple recipe, oven roasted with some orange juice and rind and a drizzle of honey.
Delicious! I must remember to save a few of the little tubers for next year.
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Are they also known as Oca? They look very similar. I have never given these a go but have been tempted to.
yes, you are correct, they’re known as Oca. I knew about them but always thought they wouldn’t grow here. Roasting them like I did was rather delicious!
I wasn’t quite sure how to cook them, they’re on my list of things to try.
Ah now I get what you were saying. When you said yams I though you mean the big ones. I have these on the plot, a selection from the real seed company. I like them too.
what are the large ones like? I have tried yacon in the past but it wasn’t easy to digest, caused some gastric problems. Nice and crunchy to eat but…..
I’ve grown yacon for the first time this year. I have not tried it yet. I’m not sure what to do with it to be honest. What I know as Yams look like sweet potatoes but a bit more hairy and are less sweet.