Friday, August 10, 2012

chinese yams and aerial blulbs

the yam vine twining around the hopi blue maize made me stop and take a good look at the yam vines...what i found didn't startle me the way the gamagrass has this season but it still has me thinking i will be culling yams next spring...the plants vined exuberantly this season and their production of aerial bulbs has lived up to the vines' promise...hundreds of them in single file and in bunches like grapes...it's another indication of just how much energy plants put into reproduction...chinese yam bulbs aren't edible like, say, an air potato...which is part of why they'll never be a perennial staple...the edible part is about two or three feet underground ( and believe me this year i will be harvesting them...all these bulbs are at least partly my responsibility since i declined to harvest them last fall...i don't think i want them to have that much energy next spring ) and doesn't amount to more than a pound or two per plant...a lot of work to harvest a little food and you have to dig up the whole garden almost ( just like a thorough jerusalem artichoke harvest which is also in the cards )so it's only a staple if you eat the reproductive system since that's where all the plant's energy is expended... tuberous perennials outproduce rootstock perennials just about any time...i'll show you the results sometime next month.
Posted by at
Labels:

4 comments:

  1. trAugust 31, 2012 at 10:25 AM

    I disagree regarding the edibility of the bulbils of chinese yam. I've eaten plenty of them raw and cooked and know others who do too. They also store well at room temperature for months. I'm curious though why you are under the impression that they arent edible.

    ReplyDelete
  2. fredAugust 31, 2012 at 5:31 PM

    we are all entitled to be mistaken or misinformed...given the quantity of bulbs the vines have produced, both on campus and in the yard, find they are edible after all would be a distinct plus...thanks for the input and i will be sure to take the issue up with my supplier

    ReplyDelete
  3. trApril 13, 2015 at 3:23 PM

    I will admit though that cooking the aerial bulbs or bulbils, however you want to call them, can be a bit tricky since the skin has an off-putting taste. So, what I do is boil them in 4 changes of water. I'll boil them for 15 minutes, change the water and do so 4 times. Each time they smell a little less and the water gets less tea colored. Then, I'll sizzle them in a skillet with oil and spices- chili, cumin, coriander. Add a bit of salt and serve. 1-2 cups of bulbils are enough for a hearty meal. Go heavy on the spices since they are quite bland. BTW: I like to call them yam berries. I rarely bother to dig up the roots. Too much work when I can just pluck the bulbils.

    ReplyDelete
  4. fredApril 13, 2015 at 4:41 PM

    thanks for the heads up on cooking with bulbs...they are prolific producers so i will be giving them a try...spot on about the roots...harvest is a chore.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)