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Post by rowan on May 30, 2016 22:20:51 GMT -5
While I had known that mouse melon/Mexican sour gherkins produce tubers I always assumed they were insignificant, mainly because no-one ever talks about them. Wow, look what a single 2 year old plant produces, and there was still another two tubers in the ground after I took this pic. All in all, this plant produced nearly a kg of tubers and I will be digging up the other plants later as I need the bed for something else. I took one of the tubers inside for taste testing. The skin is not very pleasant but the flesh is mild and fairly potato like when raw. When cooked they sweetened a little but were still quite bland. They have a texture like yacon - juicy and crunchy. I cooked some boiled in salted water, some pieces fried and some microwaved. Fried till browned on the outside was my favourite way of cooking. The pieces tasted nearly like fried potato but juicy like yacon. Would be good in stir-fries for crunch.
Boiled was my least favourite taste. They took up the taste of the salt but were too bland and uninteresting. Maybe I did not boil the pieces long enough.
When microwaved they went soft and absorbed some of the little bit of water they were sitting in. I thought they were pleasant even so.
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Post by steev on May 31, 2016 1:51:37 GMT -5
Well, congratulations on discovering a "new" food; seems rather "jicama-ish". I've never been that attracted to the sour-gherkins, but now that it's a two-fer, I should give them a shot.
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Post by philagardener on May 31, 2016 5:57:09 GMT -5
Really interesting! Great "find"!
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Post by zeedman on May 31, 2016 15:24:01 GMT -5
Interesting... I've grown them off & on for years, and didn't know they could do that. They can only be grown as an annual here, so I doubt I will ever see tubers of any decent size.
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Post by rowan on May 31, 2016 15:58:15 GMT -5
I always thought they were an annual too, I thought that the plants that come up each year are from seeds from unharvested fruit. Now I know better. Your winters in Wisconsin are probably cold enough that the tubers don't survive (I had to have a quick google to find out your climate) but anywhere with fairly mild winters will probably find what I did if they leave their bed a couple of years without digging.
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Post by steev on May 31, 2016 18:02:11 GMT -5
Maybe calls for planting in a sunken pot that can be lifted to go indoors or sent to Florida for the Winter.
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