Plant · P-264

Ulluco

Ullucus tuberosus

Ulluco is an Andean tuber with a starchy, mucilaginous, potato-like texture, and its cold-hardiness rating is deceptive - what actually stops this crop is sustained summer heat, not winter cold. It needs six to nine months of growth, including a mild autumn, to bulk its tubers, and stalls or fails outright wherever summer highs run above the mid-70s to 80 F for weeks at a time. Growing it under cover does not help, since an unshaded structure runs hotter in summer than the open air around it. The leaves are also edible cooked, though mucilaginous and unremarkable in flavor.