Groundnut Tubers
Groundnut Tubers - Apios americana - Hopniss, Potato Bean
Hopniss, Potato Bean
- Hardy to Zone 3
Full Sun to Partial Shade
- Germination Tested N/A
- 3 Tubers
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Groundnut is a delicious perennial root vegetable in the legume (bean) family. It produces chains of tubers along its roots, like beads on a string. (My nickname for this plant is necklace potato.) Tubers can get quite large but are optimum for eating when they are about the size of a chicken egg. They taste like a nutty potato, and can be cooked and eaten in the same way. They do not need to be peeled, although if the skin is particularly bumpy or thick, peeling may improve palatability and digestibility. They contain up to 17% protein, three times as much as a potato!
Note that some people are highly allergic to groundnuts, so proceed with caution when eating for the first time, as with any new food.
Groundnut is a nitrogen-fixer so can improve the growth of surrounding crops. It does well in full sun or part shade, and loves moist to wet soils (even soils that flood). It is a vigorous deciduous vine so provide something for it to climb up, or let it sprawl on the ground if you have the space. It will sucker to spread, so I don’t usually recommend planting it in a manicured veggie garden (although I’ve grown it twining up dahlias and leeks and everyone seemed happy!).
The pink flowers are also edible and ornamental. They make a nice tea.
Groundnut is native to Eastern Turtle Island, and it was and continues to be extensively cultivated for food by Indigenous peoples in its native range.
PLANTING: Plant upon receipt if the soil isn’t frozen, otherwise store in the fridge or similar cool place until spring. Plant about 2 inches down. Plants like fertile, moist to wet soil. They are very slow to emerge in spring, sometimes waiting until June in my climate, so have patience.
HARVESTING: You can probably harvest some small tubers in its first fall through early spring, but it’s probably best to wait until its second fall to get a more meaningful yield and tuber size. Wait until the leaves die back. Dig near the base of the plant, find a tuber, and pull up gently to collect your strings of groundnuts. Harvesting is very fun! I leave the largest tubers in the ground as “mother tubers” (see third photo), and I leave the smallest ones to size up. I harvest the ones the size of a chicken egg and slightly smaller for eating.
CLEANING: I find spraying roots with the hose gets them quite clean.
EATING: Try cooking as you would potatoes. Boiled, fried, mashed, etc. They are drier and firmer than a potato, so take a bit longer to cook. They don’t reheat particularly well- they become a bit gummy. So eat leftovers at room temperature. Apparently they make excellent chips! They can also be dried and made into a flour.
There’s some good info and recipes on Forager Chef and Hunter Angler Gardener Cook for further reading.
SIZING: A packet contains three small-medium tubers for planting.
Growing Instructions
Growing Instructions
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Ecologically Grown
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