airpotatoes

[bookwormom]

anybody eat them? Not that you get much as they are kind of small. I found a few the size of an acorn and cooked them with fried potatoes and they do taste like potatos.

[MadTripper]

I've never heard of them. Where do they grow as far as nationally?

Tripper

[bookwormom]

well, I am in Ky and they grow on vines that reminded me of morning glory, but they do not make a showy flower. the fruit is the color of kiwi, if you chew it raw it is somewhat mucilageous. The berry like fruits hang from the vines.

[annabella1]

It sounds like you are talking about chinese yam it is also sometimes called cinnamon vine because the flowers smell like cinnamon. It has these little bulbs that grow where the leaves meet the stem and they taste like potatoes. If you dig under the plant it also has these immense tubers (the yams) that are white with a hairy skin that you can cut up and cook just like potatoes. A lot of places consider it a noxious weed because it grows so profusely. I would like to find a seed source because I can't eat regular potatoes it would be a good substitute.

[bookwormom]

if you pm me your address I'll send you a little handful, provided you pay postage (sorry to have to mention that, bad experience). have you tried jerusalem artichokes?

I did not know about the tubers in the ground, I will check that out.

[CarolAnn]

Bookwormmom -
When I bought topsoil in Arkansas, the guy took the dirt from a rich creek-side area on his farm, and my garden sprouted all kinds of interesting stuff for a couple of years. One of the strange things that came up looked something like a small potato vine, but it had mineature "russet" potatoes on vines (not under the dirt) - and I picked them and cut a few open. They were a bit gooey inside and I was too chicken to taste them, not knowing for sure what it was. Could this be what you've seen?

[sage_morgan]

if you pm me your address I'll send you a little handful, provided you pay postage (sorry to have to mention that, bad experience). have you tried jerusalem artichokes?

I did not know about the tubers in the ground, I will check that out.

Have you had Jerusalem artichokes? I have not, but they seem to grow wild at work (edge of a field)