Most likely sweet potatoes. Sweet potato leaves and tender shoots are favorite in our house, they have high protein content, can be sautéed, out in salads, and very tasty.
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Sweet potatoes are very popular in south Louisiana. As a matter of fact, the Yambilee Festival was one of the big 3 back in my mother’s day…along with the Strawberry Festival and Sugar Cane Festival. 1956? My mom was 17 or 18 ans was the Yambilee Queen. She went on the Tonight Show with the original host Steve Alan. No video unfortunately.
As I mentioned the word Yam is used here for sweet potatoes but usually when candied.
Strangely I never remember seeing the above ground plant used as food.
Wrong time of year, but if anyone has a source for Korean sweet potato (goguma) to grow I’d appreciate it. They are supposed to have an almost chestnut flavor.
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Check out sand hill preservation center they carry a ton of varieties. Or you can buy a few organic tubers from a grocery store where available and start your own slips easily.
fill 2” peat moss or seed starting mix in a shallow seed starting tray or aluminum foil baking tray. Lay down the unblemished healthy sweet potatoes in it and put it on a seed starter heating mat. Mist water to keep the substrate moist but not wet, they will sprout multiple stems in 2 weeks. Once the stems are 5-8” tall pluck the with some roots and plant. If no roots, put the stems in water for a week and they grow roots.
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Yes I’ve bookmarked their site abs actually just tried calling them.
What they list for Korean varieties is not the usual one eaten there though.
I may take a long drive to see if the few Asian markets we have on New Orleans have it.
Yes, you can multiply your plants by putting piece in water to root.
I keep forgetting to pick the leaves…but I pick lots of other things from dandelions to mustard, cress, lambsquarter, oxalis, nasturtiums, etc.
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My friend at the senior center said they are very expensive at the Asian market, so I’m going to cut some leaves for her.
I go to a Korean Supermarket and I have never seen, is that the sweet potato with purple inside, if that’s the case, I always thought that’s the Japanese yam.
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I grow dandelions here, they are great for liver tonic.
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If they help the liver, that’s a nice bonus. I like the taste, mixed with other things.
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I watch a lot of Korean drama and variety shows. They always eat Tha same kind of sweet potato that is yellow inside with a brown skin not unlike the ones we see most in US stores.
I’m doubting I find that in a grocery here as we have a very small Asian population in general and even smaller Korean population.
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The French people eat them for spring tonic. I like all sorts of greens that are not selling at the supermarket. In fact when I buy them around Christmas, even the store manager didn’t know what they are.
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I think I saw that variety here too, but there is also a tan skin and purple inside.
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Yeah…I think the French may be the ones responsible for bringing dandelions to Americas.
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thats very nice. I used to plant 3-4 vines just for harvesting leaves, didn’t do it this year due to lack of space. Every time I walk by these pots it’s tempting to harvest some leaves.
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One of my friend told me about chicory leaves, it’s on the list to grow next year.
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Chicory is great…milder than dandelions.
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If you’ve ever been to New Orleans and gone to Café du Monde, the coffee they serve is cut with chicory. Community Coffee company makes it. It was a way to extend the coffee beans and became a thing down here. Coffee by itself is bitter, but chicory is even more so.
Until the 80’s when the first coffee shops showed up down here (yeah we got things later than either east or weak coasts…remember reel movies? If it played well we couldn’t watch the new movies until a few weeks after the premier. If it didn’t play well we never saw it here).
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Yep, I’ve had Lousianne coffee…
not my favorite, but better than no coffee!
(The Kentucky Coffee Tree is another option…again minus the caffeine.)
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try sylvetta wild perennial arugula of you havent. Weve had a nice patch of maybe 8 plants growing in the high tunnel since Sept of last year. We ate it through fall, winter, and spring. I find it has a really satisfying crunch. It sort of skipped a beat at -14, and its good to eat when it bolts too. We still have a nice crop of it, though its spicier (in a nice way, but not for everyone) and theres so much else to eat. It’ll be in full swing when cold arrives though. A favorite here.
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Too spicy for me, the sun is very strong in California.