mashua

[orflo]

I had some fun this afternoon: harvesting mashua (tropaeolum tuberosum), one of the daylength-sensitive tubers from the Andes, mice ate quite a bit (especially the early producing Ken Aslet), but still harvest wasn't bad:here are some of them (four varieties in the picture)

By orflo at 2008-11-25

[stevil]

Very nice! I have the white one this year (from Lieven) as I lost Ken Aslett (I accidentally watered it - I store in dry sand in a cold cellar) and it started into growth far too early and I didn't manage to keep it alive until I could plant it out...

Is it only Ken Aslett that flowers with you?

Have you found any interesting South American vegetarian recipes using Mashua?

[orflo]

These are the flowers of the 'purple ' variety in the picture: the variety is called 'Dragon':

By orflo, shot with DiMAGE A2 at 2008-11-27
This is Ken Aslett:

By orflo, shot with DiMAGE A2 at 2008-11-27
These are in fact easy to grow plants, as long as you know most of them are daylength-sensitive (Ken Aslett isn't). Place them on a sheltered spot (not too hot, they don't like that), keep them watered, or do some mulching with hay or straw, in order to keep their feet wet and cool. You can place them on supports, they reach over 3 metres (especially the white colombian ) but you can also grow them as a sort of ground cover (they take up lots of space that way).

Most of my varieties flower, but sometimes only in November, the production of the tubers can be very late as well. Some people like the taste raw and cooked (I'm one of them), some people absolutely discuss their taste. One way of eating them traditionally in South America is deep-frozen, they were (and probably still are) sold that way on markets. I haven't tried that yet, (haven't got a freezer and climate change..) but who knows, this winter maybe. I tried to cross-in Ken Aslett with the red one, but the seeds didn't mature. I do have some Ken Aslett seeds, but I wonder if they had time to ripen off completely. By the way, Ken Aslett is sometimes sold as an ornamental plant, and prices are very high.

[ottawagardener]

Are the leaves and flowers edible?

[orflo]

As you probably realised , they are closely related to the common nasturtium (tropaelum majus or minus). Thus the taste of the leaves and indeed flowers is quite comparable to these. From both species I prefer the young leaves, they are more tender, just as the (nice-tasting) flowers.
There are some other tropaeolum species producing edible tubers and/or leaves. Most interesting seems tropaeolum patagonicum, forming edible tubers. I never found any seeds, so that's one on 'the list' ;D. The only decent information comes from pfaf:
www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Tropaeolum+patagonicum
and from an old french book, saying harvest is about 10 kgs each square metre, which isn't bad for a probably not much selected species. The tubers seem to be quite thin, 1cms and about 10 cms long, they are used as a potato substitute

[plantsnobin]

I really like the looks of those, especially the 'dragon'. I got a Mcclure and Zimmerman catalog yesterday and they have the straight species and Ken Aslet. Species is $6.95, Ken is $7.95. I can't speak for their quality as I have not ordered from them before, and their reviews are a little hit & miss on the gardenwatchdog. But, I haven't seen it offered anywhere else in the US, so it may be worth a try.

[lieven]

Hmmm, lovely colors & a delicious mustardy peppery gingery taste! Men, watch out: you'll find stories about mashua diminishing your potency - but of course, it's all in your heads!

[stevil]

Dec 14, 2008 16:32:09 GMT -5 lieven said:

Hmmm, lovely colors & a delicious mustardy peppery gingery taste! Men, watch out: you'll find stories about mashua diminishing your potency - but of course, it's all in your heads!

Lieven: I have read that you're not a real "man" if you think these are "delicious" I must admit (no problem in this case) that I found them completely disgusting the two times I've attempted to eat them - in fact, I believe the anti-aphrodisiac reputation has to do with the fact that men are so affected and left with such a horrible taste in their mouth after eating them that they are put off everything for hours afterwards. The women seem on the other hand to love the taste (you know, a delicious mustardy peppery gingery taste kind of sensation). The male of course seeing that the woman manages to eat them will not be defeated and will try again and again......

My harvest is waiting for me to pluck up courage for a new attempt - hence my question above for a good recipe, perhaps with masses of chili, oil, garlic etc. to disguise the taste....

Anyone else like the taste?

[mybighair]

orflo,

You may want to try saving pollen from the day length sensitive varieties. It's a trick we use in rose breeding to cross late flowering species with early flowering ones. You just collect the pollen in an old film canister, let it dry for a day, then put the lid on and place it in the freezer. Rose pollen stored this way is good for about a year. You need to let the canister sit at room temperature for an hour or so before opening it after freezing to prevent condensation.

You can store pollen in the fridge for a shorter time using the same method. Fresh and defrosted pollen will store this way for a few months.

Another way of obtaining pollen earlier would be to artificially shorten the day length by covering the plants with a heavy tarpaulin around mid afternoon. The same method has been used to increase the yield in other day length sensitive plants like Oca.

Could you tell me where you obtained the 'Dragon'? I have a thing for purple foodstuffs and would love to try crossing it with 'Ken Aslett'. It would be fun to try and obtain a day length neutral form.

[orflo]

I do use the covering method for daylength-sensitive crops, oca, ullucus and some potatoes (mostly wild species). But I grow mashua on big poles and it's a bit awkward to cover them up completely. I could grow them on the ground, but this takes up lots of space.
And I did try this pollen method once, but for something completely different, solanum quitoense. But what I probably didn't do (because I didn't now) was leaving the little box I used closed after getting it out of the freezer (it was in the freezer of a friend, and I opened it up over there), so next time I'll try it your way, thanks.
I think I can still send you a dragon, maybe 2, but probably no more, because they're very popular nowadays...

[bunkie]

beautiful! they look like something hummingbirds would be attracted to.

[mybighair]

orflo,

It's typically kind of you to offer, and I would love to try one tuber if you could spare it (I don't see that I would need any more than one to attempt the cross), but only if you can spare it.

There is no rush if they are in short supply, I have plenty of breeding projects to get on with, and I'm happy to wait a while before attempting this one. After all, next season will be my first with 'Ken Aslett' so I don't actually know for sure that I can grow mashua in climate.

So do whatever is you think best, and thank you for your offer.

[stevil]

I reduced the daylength of both Oca and Ulluco this autumn (Frank's suggestion) and I had the best yield ever on my Oca and the plants died back a month earlier than before. I grow in pots and bring inside in October and harvest in December. I forgot to cover the plants a couple of days of the 10 days I covered in September.

[stevil]

Dec 19, 2008 4:23:56 GMT -5 stevil said:

Anyone else like the taste?

I'll answer my own question. I decided to conduct a little Mashua taste test at our Xmas dinner. First, a couple of pictures showing assorted Andean root vegetables ready to start cooking: 2 types of Ullucus (yellow and green), Oca, Mashua (Lieven's white variety) and Madeira Vine (Anredera - also in the Basellaceae like Ullucus):

www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=1207

The roots were steam-cooked (picture of the cooked tubers):

www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=1206

I then asked the 5 people present to taste a bit of Mashua - the white Mashua had turned a purplish colour after cooking. Everyone commented on the taste and whether they liked it:

All referred to an earthy taste. All liked the taste and would try it again! Only one was not so keen. All agreed that the taste was "perfumed". Other comments were "smooth texture", "better taste than potato", "distinctive flavour", "not comparable with anything else I've eaten", "Sweet earthy taste", "Very Nice", "Tastes a bit like Brussel Sprouts".

Even I liked the taste this time. I wrote above that I found the taste disgusting the last two times I tried - the variety was Ken Aslet. So, what has changed? Me? The variety?

The roots accompanied our "traditional" vegetarian nut roast Xmas dinner which was also served with Blue Congo and King Edward roast potatoes, roast Parsnips, Jerusalem Artichokes and Brussel Sprouts...

www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=1208

Otherwise, the Oca was more popular tastewise than the Ullucos, but all agreed that Ullucos won visually, also important...

[canadamike]

Now, I would sure like to have some of these tubers, but can also ask for the cook to come with them??? ;D