So I’ve convinced you, huh?

I was just looking at the Greenharvest page on it, and I realized there’s an important difference in our climates, as our winter is hard enough to quickly kill the tops of the plant with the first frost and spring planting has to be done well after the last frost. This makes things a lot easier to figure out timing.

For us, after the first frost, we harvest the plant by digging it up, cutting the top off but leaving a 10cm ‘handle’, then storing it indoors; first uncovered for about a month when it sweetens. After this first month you can store it either covered or uncovered as you like, but it has to be kept from drying out.

That’s it really. You should wait until it sweetens for the first month before eating it, but after that just eat it when you like.

For us the stem tubers are usually harvested in February for propagation, and usually started in small pots indoors. You may have a mild enough climate you don’t need to start them indoors. If you wait too long the stem tubers will get covered by a grey slime, and will no longer be viable.

The plants may need some support as they grow, and since the tubers are easily damaged, you may want to stick a cane into the ground when the plant is still very small and hasn’t developed tubers yet.

Be sure to give the plants plenty of space, about 90cm in each direction, to allow room for the tubers to grow. Growing them is very easy, and they do well even in less than perfect soils. Finding ways to eat them is the hard part…

Lots of people ask themselves the same question I think.

It’s really an interesting plant with a lot of potential. It’s much more productive than potatoes in the same space. In less than 1m2, the harvest can be more than 10Kg. It contains an interesting sugar, that can easily be converted to alcohol, making it potentially a useful plant for biofuels. The sugar it contains, inulin, is also healthy for people with diabetes and is not absorbed by the body possibly making it useful for others on a low sugar diet. The lack of real sugar can leave you with a sort of ‘empty’ feeling after eating it.

The taste is also really nice. Sweet, and a bit like a melon. The texture is crispy and also nice. It stores well in an unheated room and will last for most of the winter.

Having said of of this, it’s clear a lot of people have a hard time figuring out what to do with it. While the taste is nice, it’s not an every day food for most people. I’ve heard it’s nice in stirfrys, but haven’t tried that myself. It’s nice eaten raw or cooked in a little butter until the sugar in it carmelizes a bit. It’s possible to make wine with it, or a syrup that can be used on pancakes or other foods.

I ended up eating about 5Kg of it last winter, but I was alone. Steph thinks it tastes disgusting.

One or two plants is probably enough for almost any family.

Is it worth growing? Certainly a lot of people in Europe are trying it right now. I think it’s worth growing once, just so you know what it is. Will it become the plant of the future? I don’t think so, but it might…

Kate of the Hills and Planes Seedsavers blog could probably send you some if you were interested.