page_title: Yacón
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Yacón / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: Yacon tubers sold in the Philippines
context_page_description: The yacón is a species of perennial daisy traditionally grown in the northern and central Andes from Colombia to northern Argentina for its crisp, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots. Their texture and flavour are very similar to jícama, mainly differing in that yacón has some slightly sweet, resinous, and floral undertones to its flavour, probably due to the presence of inulin, which produces the sweet taste of the roots of elecampane, as well. Another name for yacón is Peruvian ground apple, possibly from the French name of potato, pomme de terre. The tuber is composed mostly of water and fructooligosaccharide.
context_section_description: Yacón can easily be grown in gardens in climates with only gentle frosts. It grows well in Kathmandu, Nepal and southern Australia (including Tasmania) and New Zealand, where the climate is mild and the growing season long. The plant was introduced to Japan in the 1980s, and from there, its cultivation spread to other Asian countries, notably South Korea, China, and the Philippines, and is now widely available in markets in those countries. Yacón has also recently been introduced into farmers' markets and natural food stores in the United States and has been available from niche online health food stores in the United Kingdom since 2007.
  Yacon is also grown on the Atherton tablelands in Queensland. The plant can be grown using cuttings and the purple corms at the bottom of the stalks. It will not reproduce from the tubers which, if not harvested, rot in the ground providing fertilizer for following crops.
  Yacon should be planted in a well-dug bed in early spring, near the time of the last expected frost. While aerial parts are damaged by frost, the tubers are not harmed unless they freeze solid. Yacón is a vigorous grower much like Jerusalem artichokes. The plants grow best with fertilizer.
  After the first few frosts, the tops will die and the tuberous storage roots are ready for digging up. It is generally best to leave the perennial rhizomes in the ground for propagating the following spring, or, alternatively, they can be kept in the refrigerator or buried away from frost until spring. While usable-sized edible tubers develop fairly early in the season, they taste much sweeter after they have matured and have been exposed to some frost. After harvest tubers left in the sun to harden taste much better than those eaten immediately.
caption: Yacón tubers sold in the Philippines
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