Good old Cyperus esculentus.
This sedge produces a crunchy little underground tuber.Those tubers are Chufa Nuts.
(You might know them as Tigernuts, but I learned about them as Chufa and my brain still thinks of them that way!)
You can eat Chufa nuts and you can plant them to get more Chufa.
At Tourne-Sol, we don’t actually grow any Chufa for our CSA baskets. We sell the tubers through our online store, so folks can grow them at home.
Here’s how to harvest and clean Chufa nuts.
Loosen the plant with a trowel then pull it out of the ground
Most of your Chifa nuts will be in a clump at the base of the plant. There will be very few left in the ground. You can run your fingers through the soil looking for more but don’t waste too much time trying to get every last Chufa ever. It’s ok to leave some for the hungry soil critters.
This is what Chufa looks while it’s still standing
Rub the Chufas off the clump into a bin.
Then toss the leaves back into the garden to become compost.
You wind up with a bin full of Chufa nuts and soil
Use a ¼” screen to separate the soil from the tubers
You wind up with a bunch of Chufa nuts with some stones and dirt clumps.
And a bin full of nice soil.
You can pour the soil back on the bed where the Chufa was growing.
Back in the wash station, spray that Chufa clean.
Pick out any rocks or non-Chufa chunks that are left and you’ve got some clean Chufa.
Get these wet Chufa in front of a fan so that they dry quickly, Let them air dry for a few weeks before putting them into storage.
The real secret to cleaning Chufa is screening out the soil. Once you get to mostly Chufa, it’s pretty easy to do the rest.
My next free online workshop is on Thursday November 17 ..
