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Fri, Mar 6, 09 at 21:18
| I picked up these "roots" at the local Latin grocery store a couple of days ago. The one on the left is "malanga", the one on the right is "yautia". The big question is, what is the difference? Aside from a slight difference in size (malanga was generally bigger), they looked identical to me. The girl at the store insisted they are different and said that the yautia has white flesh, which it does (I broke a piece off); the malanga has pale pink flesh. It will be interesting to see what they grow into. As far as I can tell, both are Xanthosoma; malanga has produced a very handsome elephant ear in previous years (X. sagittifolia?) but I have never grown yautia. Different species? Different cultivars? Who knows.
Here's the malanga I grew a couple of years ago:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Johnnieb, I think you're right in the sense that they are both Xanthosoma, although I think the pink, or sometimes purple colored root might be X. violaceum (someone knowledgeable in this genus will know far better than I). Question is...did you get to harvest anything from that great looking specimen? |
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| I don't generally dig them up, as it's generally easier to just buy the tubers at the local grocery store! When I've dug them up I find just the one large central tuber, and a few very small side tubers. The small tubers usually shrivel up, and the main tuber usually rots. These are true tropicals and I think my growing season is too short for them to multiply or bulk up much, and too wet for them to go properly dormant in the fall. |
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| Johnnieb, You're right. They do need more time to develop a number of good sized tubers. When I was little I recall my grandmother planting these for harvest and it seemed like the plants were in the ground at least 7-8 months-in the tropics, where there's practically no halt to the growing season. |
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- Posted by gardenfreak (My Page) on Thu, May 7, 09 at 15:03
| You can check here http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/malanga |
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| Try a Yuca...Not to be confused with Yucca. It makes a small tree like bush about 4 feet tall.Yuca fries blow French fries away when the yuca is fresh...Hint...It aint nowhere near fresh in the US Latin markets.Horrible ! Yautia is Xanthosoma violaceum.Good in soups and stews. |
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