So whether you are just looking for something new to grow or a crop to take to market, the more familiar you are with your site, the easier it will be to identify plants from other countries that may thrive there without being invasive.
For my region, I have been looking at the Andes. The climate in these mountains is more severe than what we get here but there are enough similarities for me to feel that there are plant similarities that need to be given some serious consideration. One plant in particular, yacon, seems to hold serious potential. It is a potato-like tuber and may be well suited for local development.
The next step would be to obtain a number of tubers and plant a test crop. This may prove to be difficult if you have limited resources, but I feel that persistence always pays. Next week I'll explore the possible sources for yacon and let you know what I find out.
It is important to test you local market as well. You may find that you have no problem growing the plant but that no one wants it. This may be simply because they have no idea of what it is that you are offering so do not know what to expect. You may want to test market the product before making any heavy investments of time and money.
You could hold a dinner party that features your new crop. You may offer samples to the locally owned green grocers with recipes cards attached. We'll examine these and other marketing ideas over the next few weeks.
From time to time, I will include food-related comments that I discover when surfing the Net.
Quotes:
"It is the Codex Alimentarius Commission that approves recommended standards that determine when a fish can be labeled a sardine, or how much cocoa butter must be present in chocolate for it to be "real" chocolate, or how many bits of peel can be tolerated in a can of "whole peeled tomatoes."'
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/focus/200...
Tasty and good for you:
"Watermelon is also a very concentrated source of the carotenoid, lycopene. Well known for being abundant in tomatoes and particularly well absorbed from cooked tomato products containing a little fat such as olive oil, lycopene is also present in high amounts in watermelon and mangoes.
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