[Sca-cooks] Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 13, Issue 41

[Suey]

Lilinah wrote:


> Actually the tiny, tuberous roots of an African plant of the sedge family
One of my references states it is a native of  India. Another does not 
mention of what territory it is native but the they spread from Egypt to 
Africa.

> Earthnuts or Pignuts (Conopodium Majus)
> An edible tuber common in British woodlands.
>
>
>   

The chufa is grown in temperate countries where there are no frosts when 
planted in sandy silt soil. I have never heard of chufas in England. It 
seems here that the earthnut is a name used for two different plants. 
Font Quer, Pío. Plantas medicinales, El Dioscórides renovado. Barcelona: 
Ediciones Península. 1999:657:922-925 and Usher, George. A Dictionary of 
plants used by man. London: Constable and Company Ltd. 1974:195 as many 
websites state the scientific name for chufa is Cyperus esculentus.
Ana Valdes wrote:

I tried to buy
horchata in Alicante two weeks ago, in the end of April, and all
stores and bars turned me off saying: "it's too ealy, come back in
Summer". Alicante is in the Valencia province, south of Valencia.
I tried to buy
horchata in Alicante two weeks ago, in the end of April, and all
stores and bars turned me off saying: "it's too ealy, come back in
Summer". Alicante is in the Valencia province, south of Valencia.

    Please Ana for your own safety never call an Alicantin a Valencian. 
People from the two provinces have one thing in common: rivalry.
    I don't know why horchata is not available in Alicante (the capital 
of the province) until summer (I have spent many Easter vacations 
there). As the chufa is harvested from November to January and then 
slowly dried for over three months horchata is available on the beeches 
just north of the city of  Alicante in April as in Valencia. Actually as 
the chufa is dried it can be used year round to make horchata.
Suey