Dried YACON...Yes with a Y

[GlorifiedRice]

http://www.navitasnaturals.com/product-inf...acon-power.html

I bought a bag of these at the Health Food Store and the bag says it tastes like a cross between apple and watermelon. I smelled them, I cant bring myself to actually put it in my mouth. Anyone taste these?

Brief Description from the site:

"Yacón is grown in the Andes, thrives in high mountain valleys and produces a dense root system loaded with minerals, vitamins and complex chemicals. "

[andiesenji]

I have diabetes, type 2, and systolic hypertension, and I am pretty sure I am a sensitive person.

I would like to know a bit more about it. A Seeds of Change article says it is related to the sunflower. I wonder if the yacon has the same GI effects as sunchokes........

Yacon.

Edited October 24, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[GlorifiedRice]

Okay, Andies. Ill take one for the team and taste one...

Okay they taste like bacony, untart, unsweet, apply jicama...

Unpleasant! I dont see why any company would sink money into bringing them to market.

[helenjp]

Yacon was a bit of a fad here in Japan for a while, and can still be found fresh in supermarkets now and again, but to me it tastes unpleasantly of dahlias (they are related).

Does the dried root have the same harshly aromatic taste? (Maybe I'm asking the wrong question - people often say yacon is almost tasteless apart from some sweetness, but I don't find it so).

Yacon and sunflower roots both have some inulin, and it was researched here in the '90s, but reading about it in Japanese, I get the impression that inulin content is not as high as researchers originally expected.

In Japan, the focus these days is more on the high galacto-oligo saccharide content - this type of sugar is supposed to favor "good" intestinal flora. I don't know what the other health benefits are.

[GlorifiedRice]

Helen? it was awful! It lingered in my mouth for hours even after I ate a bowl of cereal.

[helenjp]

Rather you than me!

Thank you for your sacrifice!

[GlorifiedRice]

Its sad cause I will now NOT be trying the companies other products. The packaging and website are gorgeous though.

Id rather eat gum off a NYC sidewalk!

Edited October 25, 2007 by GlorifiedRice (log)

[layla17]

I tried Yacon once. My friend visited Central America and brought some back for me. It was the most disgustingly bland taste I've ever experienced from a naturally grown food.