This is part 3 of the Chufa Harvest and Post-Harvest experience.
Here’s Part 1 when the Harvest began!
I love buckets.
Especially these 4 gallon pails.
They are big enough to hold a bunch of stuff but not too big that you overload them and break your arm picking them up.
I poured my dirty Chufa into these buckets and filled them up with water.
A bunch of lighter gunk floats to the top. Leaves, sticks, mystery bits.
And then I can pour off all that gunk and muddy water.
Square buckets are great for decanting like this because they have a nice straight edge that keeps a constant water flow while you pour.
At the bottom of the bucket is some nice shiny Chufa.
Spread the tubers on a screen and blast them with a bit of water to get the remaining dirt off.
(I should replace or fix this particular 1/4″ screen but it can still do the job.)
You could then run this through a 1/2″ screen to get out any remaining root/leaf matter.
Then spread the tubers out to dry for a week or two before storing in paper bags.
It’s worth adding a fan for extra ventilation to help your Chufa dry. We toss ours in our forced air seed dryer.
This was part 3 of the Chufa Harvest and Post-Harvest experience.
That’s all for right now!
Thank you for this process of how to best harvest & clean chufa. This was the first time I’d tried growing them, and I found your explanation the clearest and do-able. However, it still took ages and the resulting harvest makes me feel it’s not really worth it. I sowed 20 seeds (that weighed approx 30g) and have harvested less than 700 grams. Is this more or less what I should have expected?
Hi Suzanne!
We harvest about 35g per plant this year. Which would mean 700g for 20 plants.
We’ve gotten as much as twice that in the past (maybe more!) but this is still a decent yield for us.
It can definitely be finicky to clean this crop. The more times you do it, the easier it gets. If used to be a real chore for me now it goes pretty smoothly.
If you like Chufa nuts, don’t give up! You’ll get quicker at cleaning them.
Dan
Thanks for replying and the confirmation of yield. It was pretty painless growing them. It’s just the harvesting/cleaning that was labour-intensive. We’ve yet to figure out if we like them enough to grow more next year. Right now they are drying out. Thanks for your site and sharing your experiences.