Yacon--an unusual plant for the edible garden 

I get excited about growing new varieties of plants, and super psyched about growing a plant I know nothing about--especially one that can be eaten. A couple of weeks ago I was wandering around a local farmers market and came across 4" starters of a plant I'd never heard of--Smallanthis sonchifolius commonly known as Yacon and also called the Peruvian ground apple. This was a plant I couldn't resist . . .

Yacon or Peruvian ground apple in my spring garden.

According to what I've learned from the grower at the farmers market and from online research, this plant is traditionally grown in the Northern and Central Andes. Yacon produces edible tubers that supposedly taste like a cross between an apple and a sweet potato, with a texture similar to jicama. Sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes are close relatives. Harvesting the tubers should happen in fall after a frost, and after the upper branches and leaves die back. Also, the rhizomes can be dug up and stored for planting the next season.

Tubers and rhizomes

Yacon's edible tubers contain a natural sweetener called fructooligosaccharides. The sweet properties of the tubers pass unmetabolized through the body, and have a pre-biotic effect. Yacon can be eaten fresh, cooked and made into a sweet syrup. 

Stay tuned for a post season evaluation of this one.