I am fascinated by chufa. I wish there was a way to get a hold of the native variety with meaningful amounts of tubers. It seems like an ideal crop for non-clay lowland soils. Tried growing it in clay and it was not as happy, but maybe I’ll try it again.
I have seen tiger nut growing in Niger. Semi-arid tropics. It is a cash crop, grown for export to France. For use in Pastis I'm told. It is a problematic crop in that environment, because harvest involves an extreme degree of soil disturbance - leading to loss of structure and wind erosion as the dry season hits. As a crop, it clearly has short term benefits to the very poor Nigerien farmers, but the long term costs are another story.
Yeah, I definitely could see it being a challenge in an arid climate, but it definitely has some opportunity in places where there's intense seasonal rains.
There is only one of your references from a Paiute source in Oregon. Where did you find the information about what the Paiutes were doing to farm it and process it?
"Agriculture Among the Painte of Owens Valley" from Karry Lawton, Philip Wilk, Mary DeDecker, and William Mason is another particularly thorough source I forgot to include in the works cited!
Thanks for that information. Is it a journal article or thesis that I can access? I've met a few Paiutes in Oregon and Idaho. Their history there seems to paint them as mobile hunter-gatherers, and sometimes with horses, so I was surprised to read that they grew chufa as a crop with extensive irrigation.
I am fascinated by chufa. I wish there was a way to get a hold of the native variety with meaningful amounts of tubers. It seems like an ideal crop for non-clay lowland soils. Tried growing it in clay and it was not as happy, but maybe I’ll try it again.
Managing it seems to be the biggest risk, otherwise it's a fantastic crop!
Also in Catalunya and València, north side of the Mediterranean, chufa or xufa is a popular summertime drink!
I have seen tiger nut growing in Niger. Semi-arid tropics. It is a cash crop, grown for export to France. For use in Pastis I'm told. It is a problematic crop in that environment, because harvest involves an extreme degree of soil disturbance - leading to loss of structure and wind erosion as the dry season hits. As a crop, it clearly has short term benefits to the very poor Nigerien farmers, but the long term costs are another story.
Yeah, I definitely could see it being a challenge in an arid climate, but it definitely has some opportunity in places where there's intense seasonal rains.
There is a nutsedge species here in SE NM. I had no idea any of these were edible. Thanks, will look into this further.
Give em a bite-- they're delicious!
There is only one of your references from a Paiute source in Oregon. Where did you find the information about what the Paiutes were doing to farm it and process it?
"Agriculture Among the Painte of Owens Valley" from Karry Lawton, Philip Wilk, Mary DeDecker, and William Mason is another particularly thorough source I forgot to include in the works cited!
Thanks for that information. Is it a journal article or thesis that I can access? I've met a few Paiutes in Oregon and Idaho. Their history there seems to paint them as mobile hunter-gatherers, and sometimes with horses, so I was surprised to read that they grew chufa as a crop with extensive irrigation.