Chufa earthen almonds: planting and care at their summer cottage
Chufa is an earthen almond, planting and caring for which will not cause difficulties even for a novice gardener - a perennial plant. Belongs to the sedge family. It is also called the edible feed, because of the small nodules growing on the roots that can be eaten.
Chufa grows well in the Northern Hemisphere, in areas with a climate from subtropical to temperate. The homeland of earthen almonds is North Africa and the Mediterranean. It was grown by the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, who highly appreciated its useful and taste properties. Even the "father of history" Herodotus, mentioned this plant in his works.
Today, chufa is grown commercially in Spain, where earthen almonds were introduced by the Arabs back in the Middle Ages. It is produced in smaller quantities in Ghana and the countries of the Mediterranean basin. This plant with tasty and nutritious nodules on the roots came to Russia only at the end of the 18th century and was called "edible feed" or "winter house".
Useful properties of chufa
She has many advantages:
- excellent taste and nutritional value of nodules;
- a beautiful herb that can decorate any flower bed, path or alpine slide;
- useful properties that are very much appreciated by lovers of traditional medicine;
- does not require the introduction of chemical fertilizers, so planting does not worsen the ecology and soil condition.
The cold-pressed oil is light yellow in color. It contains a lot of oleic acid, which breaks down excess cholesterol deposited on the walls of blood vessels. In terms of quality, chufa oil is not inferior to the best varieties of olive, it has a pleasant almond aroma.
Only 150 g of nodules can meet the daily human need for vegetable fats and essential fatty acids.
Pillows are stuffed with dried stolons and grass, on which sleep becomes calm and deep. Tea brewed from the leaves of edible nourishment, as well as raw nodules, remove radioactive nuclides from the human body.
Chufa earthen almonds planting and care
By its appearance, the chufa resembles some kind of ordinary grass or wild sedge. It is almost impossible to guess that a lot of tasty and healthy small tubers, the size of which is about 3x1 cm, grow on its roots. They have a sweetish taste and a pleasant nutty aroma. The height of an earthen almond bush can reach 80 cm. The plant has narrow and tough leaves.
In Russia, chufu is grown as an annual crop. Earth almonds are planted at different times, which depend on the region.
The agrotechnology of growing a plant is very simple:
- With the onset of stable warm weather, at least + 15 ° C, most often this occurs in late April, early May, the nodules are soaked in clean water for 3 days. There is no need to add growth stimulants.
- They are planted in holes, which are placed on a garden bed according to a 60x60 cm pattern. This makes it easy to spud not only young bushes, but also with longer leaves. The first hilling should be done when the height of the bushes is at least 15 cm, the second - about 40 cm.
- After heavy rains, the ground near the plants is loosened, the mounds are corrected.
Chufu is watered with earthen almonds, planting and caring for which are very simple, in dry weather and not too often. Only if the tips of the leaves begin to dry out.
In warm regions, the harvest can ripen by mid-September, at the same time harvesting begins, in places with a colder climate - in mid-October.
Up to 600 nodules can be obtained from one chufa bush. Productivity from one hundred square meters - a plot of land equal to 100 m², sometimes reaches 10 buckets. And this is in the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region.
Since the unripe nodules are also quite tasty and nutritious, you can dig in the bushes. But it is better to do this only from the first days of August.
Chufa leaves are excellent food for some types of pets. They are eaten with pleasure by goats and rabbits.
Features of growing earthen almonds
Planting and caring for chufa earthen almonds strongly depends on the type of soil. The most suitable lands for chufa, on which you can consistently harvest good crops, are light chernozems. A little less of it can be obtained on heavy clays and loams, on salt marshes and sandstones. Soils with a high chalk content are not very suitable for this plant.
The best landing site is with a southern slope. Even on depleted soil, the plant will give good yields, since thanks to the bacteria that live on its roots, the chufa can assimilate nitrogen out of thin air. And the stolons that remain in the ground after harvesting enrich it and improve the structure.