Mashua ✦

Capucine tubéreuse

What it is

The seventeenth-century chronicler Bernabé Cobo wrote that the Inca fed mashua to armies in the field so the soldiers would forget their wives; rat studies have since measured a fall in testosterone, which is not the same as confirming the chronicle. What is certain is the mustard heat, which it shares with its cousin the nasturtium.

In the kitchen

Roast them whole at 180 °C for at least forty-five minutes: the mustard oils behind the raw heat are volatile and cook off, leaving the sweetness. Andean practice goes further and leaves the tubers in the sun for days first, which does the same thing more slowly.

Goes with

Oca Ulluco Quinoa Chili pepper Lime Honey Butter Cumin

Same species

Nasturtium Nasturtium capers

In season alongside

Cabbage Grey shallot Kohlrabi Lautrec pink garlic Mustard greens Negi

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