Arrowroot
Canna edulis
Origin: Hot, humid Queensland
Plant: Any time
Harvest: 12-18 months for edible rhizomes.
Suggested Recipes: Root Vegetable Curry, Vegetable Pikelets
Use as a ‘chop n drop’ mulch, or leave to form a weed barrier with pigeon pea, lemon grass and comfrey. Good bulk food to grow for livestock. Arrowroot can be
planted to provide a windbreak or shade for more delicate vegies. They will grow almost anywhere, in any type of soil and with minimal water requirements. Propagation is simply planting a piece of the rhizome that has an ‘eye’. This eye will become your new plant. Keep arrowroot for eating separate from that grown for ‘chop n drop’ as it needs to be grown over a longer period – at least twelve months old – to develop the tubers; it is best harvested when still young and before the fibre develops. The tubers can be cooked (add lemon juice to cooking water to prevent oxidisation) and grated then added to stews/casseroles as a thickener; tubers can be roasted or sliced thinly and cooked as chips (use a bit of garlic in the oil as well). The starch can be extracted and used to make arrowroot biscuits.