Hobbies And Interests
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams
Potatoes, which are root tubers, are one of the most important food crops on earth. They're easy and cheap to grow, buy and easy to cook. They can be white, red or even blue, waxy, floury or firm fleshed. They can be mashed, boiled, baked, fried, sautéed or put in salads. Sweet potatoes are the tuberous roots of a vine. They're orange inside and have a sweet flavor. Yams are tubers from a climbing plant from the Caribbean. Unlike the orange sweet potato, its flesh is white or yellow, and it's much sweeter, but they're both used the same way.
Jerusalem Artichoke, Boniato, Water Chestnut
Jerusalem artichoke is a tuber related to the sunflower. The name is a corruption of girasol, or sunflower. The skin is brownish but delicate. The tuber should be peeled until ready to use or the flesh discolors. Boniato is also called the batata or white sweet potato. It looks like a sweet potato on the outside and a white potato on the inside. Treat it as a sweet potato. The water chestnut is a tuber of a sedge growing in marshes. It is a common ingredient in Chinese dishes. It is eaten raw or cooked.
Cassava, Jicama and Yautia
Cassava is also known as tapioca. It has a thick, hairy exterior marked with rings. The white flesh is somewhat bland. Before cooking, the husk should be trimmed and the tough center core removed. Jicama is called the poor man's water chestnut, according to chef Ming Tsai, because it has the texture and flavor of water chestnuts. Like the water chestnut, it can be eaten raw or cooked. Yautia or malanga has a mulchy odor and a salty, nutty taste and goes well in stews and soups. It's brown on the outside and inside the color ranges from beige to red.
Flowers
The dahlia, named after the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl, is a flower that grows in many gardens. Like the potato plant, the dahlia also uses tubers to store food. They are perennial with showy flowers and are staples in gardens. The tubers of flowers are used by gardeners to propagate the plant.