I 1st heard of yacon a couple of years ago. I was sat by the fire on a very cold winter's evening, beer, pencil, paper plus the Tv for firm, scribbling the coming year's wishlist. The presenter of a gardening programme was going to a nursery in southern England and being treated to what sounded like an unmissable taste: an underground "pear".
Facts are Yacon Syrup Facts is also refreshingly juicy. "Yacon" suggests "water root" within the Inca language and its tubers were historically hugely valued as a wild supply of thirst-quenching refreshment for travellers. The liquid also can be drawn off and concentrated to make yacon syrup. As with Jerusalem artichokes, yacon tubers are wealthy in an indigestible sugar - inulin - which means that the syrup they form has all the sweetness of honey or other plant-derived sweeteners like maple syrup, but with no the calories.
Yacon also rewards the bacteria within the intestinal tract and colon that increase the immune technique and help digestion. This potential as a dietary aid and as a source of sweetness for diabetics has led to yacon being grown extra widely, especially within the USA.
Varieties
Yacon tubers (Smallanthus sonchifolius) might be red, orange, yellow, pink and purple but most of the more colourful ones are discovered only in South America, exactly where yacon originates. The rest of us are most likely to locate only white varieties.
Growing
Yacon is usually a perennial plant, so after you have planted it, so long as you appear soon after it, you'll have it forever.
Yacon is pleasingly quick to develop in most soils exactly where there is reasonable rainfall and moderate heat. The plants do need a lengthy season to grow - forming their tubers in autumn - but anywhere that parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes thrive will suit yacon perfectly nicely.
Facts are Yacon Syrup Facts is also refreshingly juicy. "Yacon" suggests "water root" within the Inca language and its tubers were historically hugely valued as a wild supply of thirst-quenching refreshment for travellers. The liquid also can be drawn off and concentrated to make yacon syrup. As with Jerusalem artichokes, yacon tubers are wealthy in an indigestible sugar - inulin - which means that the syrup they form has all the sweetness of honey or other plant-derived sweeteners like maple syrup, but with no the calories.
Yacon also rewards the bacteria within the intestinal tract and colon that increase the immune technique and help digestion. This potential as a dietary aid and as a source of sweetness for diabetics has led to yacon being grown extra widely, especially within the USA.
Varieties
Yacon tubers (Smallanthus sonchifolius) might be red, orange, yellow, pink and purple but most of the more colourful ones are discovered only in South America, exactly where yacon originates. The rest of us are most likely to locate only white varieties.
Growing
Yacon is usually a perennial plant, so after you have planted it, so long as you appear soon after it, you'll have it forever.
Yacon is pleasingly quick to develop in most soils exactly where there is reasonable rainfall and moderate heat. The plants do need a lengthy season to grow - forming their tubers in autumn - but anywhere that parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes thrive will suit yacon perfectly nicely.