Monday, 5 December 2011
Incredible Inca Edibles
With the distended autumn, it's been a long time coming but here is the second of my exotic challenging crops you've never heard of. This is mashua, which I don't even know how to pronounce but I'm guessing the -ua bit is sounded like the 80s scouse ensemble Wah!. It is a tuberous nasturtian, a climber with ornate leaves and tubular flowers to rival its more decorative relatives. But after the equinox, it starts to swell down below, and given a long enough frost-free period it produces a bumper crop of tubby tubers that look like a cross between a parsnip and a cone of raspberry ripple. This basketful came from one slither of root. I will approach eating it with some caution though because descriptions on Plants For A Purpose, the web bible for exotic challenging crops you've never heard of, put it somewhere on the scale between a piquant "delicacy" and "rather unpleasant". Also, if your thinking of putting on a romantic candlelit rootveg supper, stick to your microcarrots. Mashua is reportedly an appetite suppressant, the bromide tea of the Incas. I'll let you know if I notice any difference.
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DSB dont supress your appetite any more or you will waste away, but feel free to send me a couple of tubers. While we are talking about candlelit rootveg suppers i think in new year you should post some of your top recipes as well.
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