North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[charles paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>]

Yesterday I went out to a year-old compost pile in partial shade in
which in June I had planted a "Georgia Jets" yam and "Mexican Sour
Cucumber" and dug a few small yams [its in shade, I'm lucky I got
anything at all].

Inside, I cleaned a yam, cut slices, and ate the slices raw.  The
surprise was how soft and easy to chew it was!  Are yams usuallly this
soft when dug?   Could my late harvest here November 23 have affected
the texture?

I'll be digging tomorrow the same kind yams I grew in another place in
sun and hope for bigger tubers.  I picked up 4 one-gallon bags of
"Luvall's Monster" chestnut this fall from my tree [squirrels took 'em
all last year] and I have always had an easy time storing chestnuts
simply by popping them as is into a Ziploc or Tupperware and
refrigerating till germination in spring.   Could I apply
Tupperware-refrigeration storage to my yams?  Yams I hear are normally
sun-dried after harvest.   I'd like to keep my yams to grow my own
sprouts for spring planting, and the sun has fled Massachusetts.

I have a pie in freezer I made, I'd picked Eleagnus Umbellata
[autumberry aka autumn-olive] and blended then strained the mash through
a hand-squeezer filter and it was juicier than I expected so I depended
on the freezer to harden it.   Should be fun to eat one of these winter
days.
Charlie Paradise z5 Massachusetts