Great scorzonera and kurrajong roots

[rowan]

After three years I have finally selected for scorzonera that grows marvelously well here. I started off with 'Giant rooted maxima' which was ok and some of the plants had good roots but most of them were either very forked or the bottom of the root was much bigger then the top so they were difficult to get out of the ground.
I have just dug my first bed for this year and they are great - huge (it was hard to get the spade down deep enough and cut many off), straight and a good width. The picture here doesn't do them justice.



In the picture above is of the best and I have cut these ones shorter to plant in my seedstock bed.

I have also dug my first bunches of kurrajong roots (Brachychiton populneus) for market. They don't grow as big or fast as their relative the Baobab but they are delicious. They taste sweet and coconutty when raw, I don't like them as much cooked. It is too cold for Baobabs to grow here so this is a good alternative.

[templeton]

Nice, Rowan.
How long for the Kurrajongs to get roots like that?
T

[rowan]

Unfortunately it is long, 10 months. I would have left them a bit longer but I am worried they might get a tough core. Considering that they can be planted quite close they might be worth planting if people will pay a good price for them. I am still considering whether to put more in this spring or whether they are not cost effective enough. I'll see how they go at the market tomorrow.

[billw]

Kurrajong is a tree, right? Or is this some other kurrajong? If so, I take it that you need a mature tree in order to get your seed supply for the crop. Growing a tree as an annual vegetable is a pretty unusual idea.

[rowan]

Yes, kurrajongs are popular street trees in Australia. I go round every winter and pick the seed pods, the seeds are also delicious roasted but very few people know about the seedling roots.
In northern Australia some people are trying to get an industry up and going for baobab roots but baobabs have a lot of problems as a vegetable crop, mostly with germination issues.

[steev]

Always such a problem getting others to eat what you like; screw 'em; enjoy.

[khoomeizhi]

so that scorz is a selection from maxima only, or was there any other parent material?

[raymondo]

Nice one Rowan and good work on the scorzonera selection.

[rowan]

khoomeizhi, I did grow 'Hoffmanns Schwarze' but wasn't thrilled with it and didn't grow them again so, no, this was just selected from Maxima.

[richardw]

Good work rowan,i'm going to grow a scorzonera from Cesar 'white cesar', have you noticed a taste difference between the white and black roots

[raymondo]

Aug 29, 2014 15:29:16 GMT -5 richardw said:

Good work rowan,i'm going to grow a scorzonera from Cesar 'white cesar', have you noticed a taste difference between the white and black roots

I thought all scorzonera had black skin and creamy white flesh. Are there cultivars that don't? Or are you talking about salsify? Scorzonera is sometimes called black salsify I think.

[richardw]

Good point Ray,i'm really not sure

[khoomeizhi]

yup - all true scorzonera has black-skinned roots (perennial). the white ones are salsify (biennial or at most generally shorter-lived perennial).

about to start selecting from a scorzonera mass cross i did last year - both maxima and hoffmann's are among the parents. nice to see there's enough variation even within one variety to make that much difference with selection.

[rowan]

Just came back from the market and both the scorzonera and kurrajong roots flew off the table. Of course, this market is my favourite as the people in this town are the most adventurous in their eating and willing to try new foods than any other towns I go to.
It helps if you label things right - on the scorzonera I wrote "yeah these look like old sticks, why don't you ask me about them".