Stachys affinis?

[seedywen]

CROSNE

Anyone here grown stachys affinis(crosne)?

Crosne, also called Chinese artichoke, Japanese artichoke, knotroot and Chorogi. This is an Asian member of the mint family grown for its unusually shaped edible tubers. They were introduced to Europe in the 1880s (first cultivated in France near Crosne, hence the name) and enjoyed popularity until the 1920s.

Crosne have been 'rediscovered' lately and it's popularity has increased. The tubers look a string of misshapen mottled pearls (they are also described as 'petrified worms). They can be eaten raw, in salads, or stir fried, boiled, baked or in soups.

[galina]

Crosnes are very difficult to clean. Toothbrush all over, but it takes ages. They are nice, juicy and crunchy. Its all texture rather than strong flavour. Crunchy - similar to water chestnuts in Chinese takeaway meals.

They are certainly decorative. More a novelty than a really useful vegetable. Could fetch a high price for small weights at a posh (upscale) farmers market.

They need to be dug up every year and replanted at 10 inch to 1 ft spacing or they crowd and get too small to be useful in the kitchen. Despite being a member of the mint family, there is not much spreading.

[orflo]

I consider crosne to be a very fine underrated edible plant. I've had it for about 15 years or more, it still is in the place where I originally put it, and in my opinion, and for my soil and weather conditions,it doesn't need replanting, infact, if I'm not careful, it could spread slowly but steadily into other parts of the garden. The plants do need a minimum of water during the growing season, once a dry period settles in they tend to wilt and production is very low. But their taste is just lovely, they are excellent fried in a pan with a little bit of butter and a pinch of salt. I clean them with a garden hose, that's quite easy and fast (but the weather has to allow this). There's another interesting stachys, that needs wetter conditions, stachys palustris, but more on that later. Here are some pictures of crosne,the flowers and leaves in the first picture are of course vinca minor:

When weather conditions have been good, they flower in autumn. I always search for some seeds, but these apparently don't set easily...

[garnetmoth]

We actually had them in a dinner with my in-laws over Thanksgiving weekend! I grew them once, but we lived in TN, and in the heat they were SO small/fiddly. I think they must like Orflo's conditions, judging from the vinca flower, I believe mine were half that size. the ones at the restaurant werent quite as big.

nice addition to the dish they were a part of, I agree that they are better texture than interesting flavor.

[blueadzuki]

Dec 10, 2010 12:45:11 GMT -5 galina said:

They are certainly decorative. More a novelty than a really useful vegetable. Could fetch a high price for small weights at a posh (upscale) farmers market.
.

In point of fact, they have been a staple (and presumably a very profitable one) for at least one seller at the NYC farmers market at Union Square for as long as I have been visiting it (seven or so years)

[ottawagardener]

I grow it and it produces well though maybe not quite as fat as Frank's, it is less ribbed too. The texture is delightful and it doesn't require any input from me so I'm quite happy with the work to yield ratio.

[denninmi]

I have them -- they are easy to grow. I like the flavor, but frankly, the appearance freaks me out a little -- they look a whole lot like some kind of insect grub.

Biggest problem I've had with them is vole damage.

[cortona]

have anybody the possibility to swap some reproductive part ? i'm loking for unusual veggie for my garden and newfood to try... if someone have this possibility pm me please :-)

[stevil]

Dec 10, 2010 19:19:19 GMT -5 denninmi said:

I like the flavor, but frankly, the appearance freaks me out a little -- they look a whole lot like some kind of insect grub.

Don't accept a dinner invitation from me them They appeal to my sense of the mischievous and I have a whole collection of insect grub look-alike plants in my garden which I add to salads (as apparently the Victorians in the UK did too - they were known as Joke plants:
www.hagepraten.no/gallery/pic.php?mode=large&pic_id=1022

My crosnes don't get as big as Frank's - too short autumn before the first heavy frosts.

[stevil]

Stachys floridana is a very close relation which is found in the southern states in the US and is almost identical - a big lawn weed I understand on which huge amounts of herbicide are used every year....Presumably not very hardy though? Anyone try it or have access to some roots - would love to try it..

[mnjrutherford]

Dec 11, 2010 10:56:35 GMT -5 stevil said:

Stachys floridana is a very close relation which is found in the southern states in the US and is almost identical - a big lawn weed I understand on which huge amounts of herbicide are used every year....Presumably not very hardy though? Anyone try it or have access to some roots - would love to try it..

I think we may have that around here. It looks sort of familiar and according to the profile I read, it is in the area.

You'll have to bug me about it in spring!

[ottawagardener]

Medicago radiata - I had forgotten about this cool looking plant.

[iva]

I've grown it and wasn't so fond of it. The taste was pretty bland when raw, and when I baked it in the oven alongside other veggies it became very starchy and mushy, so I can't say I liked the texture of it.
It will probably regrow in the same plot next year as I wasn't careful enough to remove all tubers from the ground, so I will try to prepare it in a different way (stir fry) next year to see if I like it better...
But I did like the fact that I didn't have any work whatsoever with it while it was growing, so that is a big plus...

[ianpearson]

It's another crop that is probably more justifiable as part of a polyculture - contributing to a highly productive growing system rather than being a marginally unproductive monoculture. It can take a certain amount of shade, so I could see it doing well under cordon-grown tomatoes for example.
Here oca-testbed.blogspot.com/2010/08/all-tuber-polyculture-mound.html is a record of my polyculture of yacon/oca/Stachys grown this year.
The Stachys only produced enough tubers for a meal or two - but is a nice bonus to the other crops, and involves zero additional work.

[darrenabbey]

I know this is a very old thread, but it came up in a search I was doing and there is something I think would be useful to contribute.

Stachys floridana appears to have tubers much like S. affinis. Photos of S. floridana tubers at: www.eattheweeds.com/florida-betony-150-a-pound/

The article also mentions S. palustris and S. hyssopifolia as having edible tubers.

I wonder of the potential to hybridize between the species.