[Rétro] The earth pear, a tuber vegetable that makes its hole

During the summer break, Magcentre took the time to return to the news that punctuated this first half of the year 2025. Therefore, We offer some articles that have marked in recent months.

First publication Sunday. Meanwhile, January 5, 2025

Horticulturalist, market gardener and seed entertainment installed in La Chapelle-aux-Lana, opposite Langeais in Touraine, Cédric Godbert has always been attracted to atypical products. Meanwhile, In his nursery. Therefore, he thus sells collections of aromatics, more than 100 varieties of tomatoes and between 600 and 1000 varieties of different edible plants and flowers including the earth pear…

By Estelle Boutheloup.

It does not grow in a tree and yet it is a pear … Consequently, a pear yes, but a earth pear. However, Not to be confused with the potato! For example, Unknown. Moreover, not very common, Cédric Godbert has been cultivating it for ten years in his Domaine des Jardins de la Levée, near Villandry, in La Chapelle-aux-Lana, where he has been installed since 2016. Moreover, “It is a perennial vegetable, from the family of Jerusalem artichokes, known only of restaurateurs and curious people! Therefore, »»launches the market gardener. Furthermore, Curious, like him! In addition, He grows vegetables for chef Alain Passard when he makes this discovery. “I was a gardener for him for 4 years. I provided him with vegetables for his restaurant. I like to work the vegetable and I was looking for [rétro] earth pear, tuber vegetable original things. Additionally, I then rubbed shoulders with collectors who did atypical things in France. And by looking, I came across this plant that I multiplied. »»

Originally from South America. the earth pear, also called Yacón, is a tuber vegetable, relatively easy to grow and cook. “The tuber is quite firm with a grainy texture and its taste is sweet like pear. It would even be good for diabetics because its sugar is assimilated ”continues Cédric. Simply to snacker raw as you would crunch a carrot. radish, the earth pear can also be consumed in bruiser chips but also in a dauphinois gratin with potatoes or fruit salad.

[rétro] earth pear. tuber vegetable – [rétro] earth pear, tuber vegetable

A culture to test

Still discreet and unknown to consumers, the Earth pear begins to appear on market stalls and in individual gardens. Of course. it has its place at the nursery The gardens of the lifting where Cédric speaks of it in passionate. Relatively easy to cultivate. distrust, however, because the earth pear is frosty: “You have to put the tubers in the cellar to protect them from the cold in winter. »» Can reach 1.80 m-2 m high in March-April, it flowers very late like a sunflower in October-November. “The crops are made after [rétro] earth pear, tuber vegetable the first frosts in the fall after having removed the strain. We recover the earth pears, these reserve organs that we dry for one to two months before consuming them. By dehydrating, the vegetable will concentrate in sugar. »»

Preserved in a pot. in a greenhouse, the vegetative organ is given in the ground in the spring, in May. “It is a plant that is not afraid of insects or illnesses and which keeps from year to year. The tuber will grow and allow the strain to be divided. »» A production to discover and test among others for € 7 for 5 -liter pots. Because Cédric’s nursery is full of curiosities such as the Berry sugar squash. the Tourin de Tours melon or the Big Haps up of Orleans, protected local varieties. Vegetables or aromatic, condiment or medicinal … between 600. 1000 varieties of plants are to be discovered, [rétro] earth pear, tuber vegetable including a hundred tomatoes “To make people find little known varieties”concludes Cédric. What to be tempted and surprised.

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