Question about Maori potatoes.

[mischief]

Does anyone know if Maori potatoes go green under the skin, ie become inedible.?
Some of those I collected were sitting on top of the soil and I didnt think much about it at the time, but now wonder if I should eat them or not.
I cant tell which they were and they dont appear to have gone green.
Or is it just the white potatoes we need to worry about?

[permup]

I take it you mean kumara? Kumara are a sweet potato, but I don't know anything about whether they are ok to eat green or not.

[mischief]

No Kumara is sweet potato.
Maori potato is a small tuber potato that is purple in flesh and skin.
The growing plant and flower looks like 'normal' potato, except maybe the leaves have darker markings on them, the flowers are the same white flowers as white spuds.
They seem to take longer to grow and die back and dont seem to suffer from lack of water(which is a definite plus is my garden).

[pippimac]

Are you growing urenika potatoes mischief?
I've eaten them after they've had some serious sun time and while I probaly couldn't see the green through the purple, if you know what I mean, they never had that 'green' taste.
So I assume that dark skin reduces sunburn in potatoes as well as people!

[mischief]

Ta thats good to know

[matto]

You mean Oca?...no idea, sorry.

[Michaelangelica]

Is this it/them?
http://www.biotechlearn.org.nz/focus...maori_potatoes

[mischief]

Yep Big M, thems the ones.
There are quite afew differnt varieties.
I was looking at the selection that the Koanga nurseries have,didnt realise there were so many types.

Today I visited the friend who gave them to me, she has been giving them to people for a couple of years now some of them have said they had given them to others cos they are so tasty, so from just one person, lots are growing, eating and sharing this heritage food.

I was told it is best to grow these in one spot and to put the little ones straight back into the soil, mulch them with leaves under the lawn clippings and also put on any hedge trimmings and maybe more clippings.
To do that successfully, I will have to work out where a good spot would be outside the garden proper or the chooks will just demolish them.
I asked her if she ever watered them and was told no, just whatever Mother Nature feels like providing.
Hers were much bigger than mine.

Oca is what we call yams but is not the plant that other countries use 'Yam' for.
Oca is Oxalis Tuberosa and suprise, surprise yet another South American gem.
How come they got all the goodies.?
I have only once been able to get those to the same size as the supermarket ones, so I stopped trying to grow them-just too tiny even for me.

[Mr Fernando Pessoa]

They are ok to eat they make great chups!.

[pippimac]

Urenika are pretty much impossible to get rid of and grow from spudlets smaller than a pea. Not a problem as such, but since they're in the ground all year, wireworms can really breed up in them.
I want to get some of the waxy varieties. While you gotta love violent purple mashed/roast spuds, urenika are way too floury to be much good boiled, and I love a good boiled potato.