Description
What are crosne ?
- A Weird & Wonderful delicacy !
- Delicious, nutty flavour and a satisfying crunch.
- Perfect for salads and stir-fry
- Only need to plant them once.
- Available from Amazon
About the size of a chess piece the crosne is a well known delicacy in France.
You can use a crosne in the same way as a potato – fry it, bake it, roast it. Or you can eat it raw added to a salad, grate it on dishes…..
It gets even better, crosne tubers are very easy to grow and once you’ve planted them they are self perpetuating and you will be able to harvest them every year after that.
How to grow crosne tubers
A crosne will grow in full sun as well as semi-shade.
- Plant them from mid October to April.
- They will prefer a light, sandy soil.
- Plant a tuber 10 cm deep and 20 cm apart, and the plant will grow to about 50 cm high.
- They are frost hardy but you will need to keep watering them, as they don’t like dry conditions.
They will spread so try to grow them in a container or contained bedding
Very important.
Don’t let the crosne plants flower, but when they reach about 30 cm in height keep cutting them – so they direct all their energy to growing the roots. A crosne will grow in full sun as well as semi
How to harvest..
Harvest is usually from October onwards – and you will know when they are ready as the ground will begin to break. (They grow quite shallow)
Gently dig them out with a fork – don’t worry about missing some as they will grow for next years crop.
Very easy to prepare
Once you’ve ‘dug up’ your crosne the next stage will be to clean them.
Never peel a crosne, simply scrub clean. Do not expose to light as the tubers will darken and lose flavor.
They can be quite small (size of a large chess piece) but simply washing them with water is the easiest option.
If you have to many to use :
- They will keep for about 1 week if kept in a dark, cold place
- Or simply pickle them for later use.
For more details & a step by step video have a look at
Where to get crosne tubers
