Food: Crosnes de Japon

Back in April last year I posted about the new things we were trying in the garden - purple podded peas, asparagus peas and crosnes de Japon or Chinese artichokes. The purple podded peas looked beautiful but the pods were tough even when tiny and the mature peas inside were fat and mealy. Horrible. As there is a lot of seed left in the packet, the rest can share some space with the sweet peas this year.

The asparagus pea made better eating when I managed to catch the pods early enough. They were fine, if unremarkable in stir frys. But again, once this batch of seed is used up I'll probably not bother again as they were quite a challenge to get growing. Pretty flowers, mind you!

And then there were the crosnes. Harvest started in late December once the frosts had killed off the foliage and was a challenge. Given that the plant is related to mint, I shouldn't have been surprised to unearth a tangle of white roots some of which resembled the tubers originally planted. Much was thin and mean and all was caked in mud and given that they are deeply ridged proved to be a nightmare to prepare for the kitchen.

Apologies for the dark (indoor) photograph, but here you can see the crosnes in a plastic tub. The only way I could find to clean them was to dump the tubers in a pot full of water and let them soak. Change the water and repeat. And repeat. And repeat! Each one then had to be picked at with a knife to remove any last bits of dirt. Tedious.

So, they are a pain to clean and what are they like to eat? Well, overwhelmingly unexciting might be the best description.  The first lot I cooked according to most of the suggestions on French foodie sites - cook slowly in butter until tender. And as a methodology that is always going to be a winner. They were nice, by tender I took it to mean soft, and they tasted of butter. Conclusion? Not worth the effort.

Next time around I chucked them into a stir fry, after the carrots but before the greens. Better, no flavour - some might call it subtle - much like a water chestnut, but an excellent way to get some crunch into a dish. Although not something that a stir fry normally needs, not in this house anyway.

They've gone into soups,pasta sauces and curries adding textural crunch if no discernible flavour, and usually greeted by the delighted cry, "Oh, space weevils!" from my other half.

And I suspect we'll never be without them; like potatoes they will grow again from the tiniest tuber left in the ground. Combine that with the tenacious spreading capabilities of mint and I think my little patch at the top of Veg Bed One may well take over the entire potager.

Right, off to dig up another patch and dump them in some water ready for dinner in a few days time!