With crispy, juicy, sweet flesh, the common name for Yacon is well fitting - ‘Apple of the Earth.’ We enjoyed eating these tasty tubers, which have a hint of ginger, in salads and fruit smoothies. They can also be juiced or used in stir-fries or curries. Most people prefer to peel the skin off before eating.

Yacon plants are hardy, attractive perennial herbs, native to Columbia and Ecuador. They reach 1-2 metres tall, with large dark green arrow shaped leaves. The foliage grows up from a central knobby pink/purple rhizome, while the tasty tubers grow down. They love well drained, rich loose soil. Propagation is by planting the rhizome or a part of the rhizome which has a shoot emerging.

The bounty of tubers is harvested when the foliage dies down in autumn or winter, and you can replant the knobbly rhizomes ready for another year.