Yacon - Smallanthus sonchifolius: Harvest, History, Food, Medicine, Breeding

Credits: Thanks Chris Bolden-Newsome, Sara Taylor, Sarita Daftary, Kristin Schwab, Ty Holmberg, and Bart for being in my video. Go watch Randall's "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger". See below for a write-up on Yacon from my blog: seedkeeping.tumblr.com Yacon - Smallanthus sonchifolius // Polymnia sonchifolius Yacon has a sweet and juicy tuber that is terrific eaten fresh. As I wrote this, I ate four plain peeled tubers because they are irresistable. They are even better with lemon juice, and if you want to get really fancy you can add orange slices and other fruit. Letting them sit in the sun for a day or two will bring out their sweetness. In the aster family with sunflowers, sunchokes, and dahlias, Yacon is an impressive plant with large fuzzy leaves, occasional small yellow or orange flowers, and up to 7 feet tall. Yacon most likely originated on the Eastern slope of the Andes from the Apurimac River Valley in central Peru to the La Paz River Valley in northern Bolivia. There are three very closely related wild species in that area, and Peru now holds perhaps 200 distinct varieties of Yacon in their seed banks. Plants in the genus Smallanthus generally prefer disturbed areas that are free of vegetation, and so Andean slash-and-burn agriculture was likely just what Yacon and its ancestors needed to take hold. So Yacon is a crop very linked with humans, and continues to thrive throughout the Andes on abandoned sugar and coffee plantations, and in the shrubbery between fields. Yacon is a Quechua word: yacu and unu both mean water, and yakku means watery. It is depicted on textiles and ceramics found in the coastal archaeological sites in Nazca, Peru (500-1200 AD). It was later spread as far as Colombia and northern Argentina by the Incas. The first known written record was in 1615 by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a Quechua nobleman who spoke against the Spanish treatment of native people of the Andes. It was eaten as a thirst quencher by Inca messengers as they travelled the winding paths of the Andes. In Bolivia and beyond, the tubers are eaten by people with diabetes and digestive problems. In Brazil and Japan people are using the dried leaves to treat diabetes, though a recent study warned that long-term consumption of yacon leaves could cause renal problems. From Peru to northern Argentina, yacon is eaten during the Corpus Cristi festival which displaced the Cápac Raymi festival of Inca times (this festival still happens in some places). In Ecuador, yacon is eaten during Todos los Santos and Dia de los Muertos. LINKS: Yacon - Storing and Dividing Como cultivar Yacon - Great video in Spanish filmed at a coffee farm. Yacon Stem Cuttings - How to propagate via stem cuttings. Yacon: Hybrid Version - Frank Van Keirsbilck is attempting to breed yacon via seed! Radix Root Crops - Independent plant breeders collaborating to bring new root and tuber crops into cultivation in temperate climates. REFERENCES: Hermann, M. and J. Heller, editors. 1997. Andean roots and tubers: Ahipa, arracacha, maca and yacon. Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. 21. Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben/International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy. PDF here. National Research Council. 1989. Lost Crops of the Incas: Little - known plants of the Andes with promise for worldwide cultivation. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Article here. New Agriculturalist. Mountains Better in Latin America. January 2007. Article here. Rea, J. 1992. Raíces Andinas. Pp. 163-179 in Cultivos marginados: otra perspectiva de 1492 (J. Leon and J.E. Hernández, eds.). FAO, Rome. Article here. Weaver, William Woys. Yummy Yacon Root. Mother Earth News. June/July 2006. Link here. Zardini, Elsa, 1991: Ethnobotanical notes on yacon, Polymnia sonchifolia Asteraceae. Economic Botany 45, 72-85. Article here.