Kitchen Garden Forum

Well, I'm still here!
I tried the recipe in James Wong's Home Grown Revolution and they were very tasty.
The tubers actually don't have a very strong flavour although he says different varieties have different tastes. I only made a small amount to see whether I liked them as a kilo of tubers sounded rather a lot.

Peel and grate the tubers and squeeze the water out.
Grate a small onion
mix in an egg, a tablespoon or two of flour, grated nutmeg and salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Fry tablespoon sized dollops flattened out in a mixof butter and olive or sunflower oil for about 5 mins each side until golden brown

His serving suggestion is soured cream, dill and smoked salmon but I had mine with a chicken curry like an onion bahji.
Might try some roasted next time as this should intensify the flavour a bit.

Has anyone tried cooking any of the other unusual veg in his book? I'd be interested to hear of any successful ones. I've tried the cucamelons and I think someone mentioned the hosta shoots.

Hi Plumpudding

Eating dahlia's that can't be right that would be a step to far for me

regards

Arnie

I'd probably try it but I'm sure I'd get more enjoyment from the flowers!

Westi

You can enjoy the flowers and then eat a few of the tubers. The ones I grew were just little single tubers when I planted them this year and there are lots of big fat tubers now I've dug them up, so they are very productive and I'm only going to eat a few and will have lots more to plant next year and have a lovely show of dahlias too.

I've tried Dahlia tubers in the past and they're really not half bad, although I did suffer a little with windy-pops, which is inevitable as their tubers, like their close relative Jerusalem artichokes, are packed with inulin. There's another Dahlia relative, Yacon, which grows larger and is more productive, with the same texture and flavour. But again: hold on to your hats.

Hi Felix, I tried Yacon last year and it just went rotten even started off in pots in the greenhouse, so not sampled it. They say the large yellow cactus dahlias are some of the best for eating - nice fat tubers. Not noticed any windy after-effects from the dahlias, but jerusalem artichokes certainly do.

I'm going to try the dahlias roasted next - it should intensify the flavour and it says brings out the sweetness. They certainly hold a lot of moisture.

Too bad that you didn't get your yacon off the ground, PP. Yacon has a rhizome and it also produces tubers — it is propagated from sections of rhizome, which means all the tubers can be eaten without depleting or diminishing the parts of the rootstock used for propagation. If you attempt to propagate just from a tuber, it is not capable of producing a bud. The same applies to Dahlias. A bit of warmth and not too much water at first, is my advice.

I got the yacon from Real Seeds so would think they were the right bits for growing. Perhaps it was just a bad year, not warm enough.

I bought some of the pretty bright pink Occa from them and it is doing very well. It over-winters well left in the ground and even got through the prolonged cold last winter.