Close-up - introducing yacon

Back in September 2024, we hosted a visit from members of the North Ryde RSL Vegetable Growers Club, one of whom kindly gifted us a small tuber she said was a Jerusalem artichoke. Once it began to grow, it wasn’t what we expected, but we were happy to wait and see. In early autumn, as the leaves began to die back, we investigated what was going on underground, and all was revealed.

This was a yacon, or ‘Peruvian ground apple’ (Smallanthus sonchifolius) – and it’s a keeper! Here’s member Armando, with the harvest of tubers. Yacon is related to Jerusalem artichoke, and is similarly rich in inulin, but it doesn’t seem to cause the same ‘fartiness’. According to Gardening Australia, it has been grown in the Andes since the time of the Incas.

Juicy, crisp and sweet (the name means ‘water root’ in the Inca language), it’s a bit like a nashi pear, and works brilliantly in a Waldorf-type salad, for example.

Check out this comprehensive article from The Guardian, which includes growing advice as well as recipes.

We re-planted the rhizomes straight away, so we can look forward to double the harvest next year!