Yummy Yacon

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a member of the sunflower family, so it has small yellow flowers, and — like its cousins, dahlias and Jerusalem artichokes — it develops huge tubers. The name yacon is a Spanish derivation of the Quechuan word llaqon, which means “watery” or “water root,” referring to the juiciness of the tubers. Quechua is the original language of the Incas, who spread the cultivation of yacon along the west coast of South America. Legend has it that traveling Inca messengers relied on the tubers to quench their thirst on long journeys.

Because it isn’t a high-energy food, the Spanish Conquistadors ignored yacon. It remained more or less a food of native South Americans until the 1930s. At that time, Italian botanists began breeding new vegetables with yacon because it can be grafted to dahlias, sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes. Those experiments stopped during World War II, but scientists have begun to re-examine the old research, and are becoming aware of yacon’s many benefits.

Yacon Cultivation

If dahlias thrive where you live, then you can grow yacon. It thrives in just about any area that receives consistent moisture and moderate heat. The plants need a long growing season, and the tubers form in fall when the length of day shortens.

Yacon has been cultivated for so long that the flowers no longer produce fertile pollen. It must be propagated by dividing the crown — the knobby part of the plant to which the tubers are attached — found just beneath the soil’s surface. Propagating yacon crowns is similar to dividing potatoes into “seeds”— you simply plant each section sprouting from an “eye.” You can start crown divisions indoors in very early spring or order plants (see “Yacon Sources”). Yacon does not like temperatures below about 40 degrees, so set out your plants when it’s time to plant tomatoes. These are large plants; space them about 3 to 4 feet apart in rich, loamy soil — the more compost the better — and water well during dry spells. Yacon is almost completely pest- and disease-free.

Your diet will be enriched by adding yacon to it, and so will your soil, says Alan Kapuler, who holds a doctorate in life sciences and has been researching yacon for more than 20 years. “In the same way that yacon stimulates good bacteria in our digestive system, it does the same for beneficial soil microbes.” He’s excited about the renewed scientific interest in yacon. “The phenomenon by which yacon increases soil fertility is underappreciated, because we have a limited understanding of how microbes contribute to our health. The new science is truly significant.”

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print