Here is a blog post on how to cook/ use yacon. Recently, well now it’s growing season again. I have been harvesting Yacon off the ground last month. here is a link to post on it. I will put a link on when the blog post is published. once you get hold of the tubers it is dead easy to grow. It can yield plenty of harvest from one single plant like other tubers like chinese artichoke, jerusalem artichoke and oca tubers. The links are on how to grow and harvest them.
Yacon or another name Peruvian Ground Apple is quite popular and well known as a health food. Due it’s inulin compound in it like Jerusalem artichoke it provides sugar but not like in process sugar form where it contains loads of calories and sugar. Therefore good news for those on diet and diabetics. The sugar content in Yacon is available once it’s cooked. Yacon is also gluten free.
So here are the tips I have found on….
How to cook/ use yacon (Peruvian ground apple).
Syrup…..
Make a syrup here is how to do it. You need a fair bit of Yacon. A yacon plant can yield a bit so not a probelm in get thing that fair bit. Harvest it fresh less sugar content, harvest it latter the higher the sugar content. However, once the tubers are broken or snap like mine did due to clay soil I have to use it immediately. Otherwise they will go brown like apples easily.
I peel the skin off then grated them down with a grater. After that just simmer it in a pot till the grated flesh releases the water. Then strain it and there you are some syrup made.
As it was freshly harvested the sugar content is not very high which means it won’t taste as sweet as the ones been harvested a few days ago or been dug up and keep aside in cool dark place.
Eating them fresh
Yacon can be eaten fresh as well. They are great on their own or salads. As they go brown like apple they need to eat immediately or put some lemon juice on it to prevent it from going brown. When eaten fresh it tastes between a cross of pears and water chestnut. Due to its high water content it is more crunchy than pear or water chestnut. However, as the name goes of ground apple it doesn’t taste at all of an apple.
Read further on how to cook/ use yacon ….
Cook yacon
I believe they are good in stir fries and they have many culinary uses. I will experiment with them as I just love trying out new things. So will post some recipes on the blog.
I have tired them on stir fry noodle today and they taste lovely. I have lots other types of stir fry recipes on this blog. Like water bamboo stir fry just substitute water bamboo with yacon instead.
Eating the leaves as well.
The leaves during the growing season I believe can be harvested fresh and eaten like salads. I haven’t eaten them fresh as it was my first year of growing them.
Making a tea out of the dried leaves
Yes, I made tea out of the frost dried and down leaves. It tastes like green tea. So nothing wasted.
I’ve been growing Yacon on Skye for two years, and had a wonderful harvest this year. It needs the shelter and warmth of the polytunnel here though. So far I’ve only tried it in sweet recipes – substituting in pear cake, and mixed with apple in a crumble both worked really well. I’ve found a couple of curry recipes as well which may be next to try!
Hi, thank you for dropping by. Glad you had a wonderful harvest this year. I will try adding it to some of the tips you have said.
Where can I get tubers?
Tubers and seeds are the same?
I got the tubers online from eBay in the wintertime as the foliage dies back and forms tubers.
Tubers are not the same as seeds. Tubers come from under the ground they are more established than seeds. Seeds take time to mature. My homegrown yacon has never flowered so not sure if they will ever produce any seeds.