An interesting addition to the garden is this yacón, a South American plant that appears to have only appeared on the Western consciousness in the last decade or so. We had one last year but I stuffed it up when I dug it up. Too impatient. We ate one and it certainly tasted a bit 'different' - water chestnut, pear, crunchy, juicy. I bought the plant in the township of Mapua, which lies at the entrance to an inlet at the southern end of Tasman Bay. The shop assistant told me that a customer bought two plants last year, and professed that due to the application of large quantities of cow manure, he had harvested 50 kgs of tubers from them.

I shall be more careful with this plant, and will do a bit more research before plucking it from the soil.