Arracacha
Encyclopedia
The arracacha is a garden
root vegetable
originally from the Andes
, somewhat intermediate between the carrot
and celery
. Its starch
y taproot
is a popular food item in South America
, especially in Brazil
where it is a major commercial crop.
The name arracacha (or racacha) was borrowed into Spanish
from Quechua, and is used in the Andean
region. The plant is also called apio or apio criollo ("Creole celery
") in Venezuela
, zanahoria blanca ("white carrot") in Ecuador
, virraca in Peru
, and mandioquinha ("little cassava
") or batata-baroa in Brazil
. It is sometimes called white carrot in English
, but that name properly belongs to white varieties of the common carrot
.
The leaves are similar to parsley
, and vary from dark green to purple. The roots resemble fat short carrot
s, with lustrous off-white skin. The interior may be white, yellow, or purple.
The boiled root has about the same uses as boiled potatoes, including side dishes, purée
s, dumpling
s and gnocchi
, pastries, etc., with the advantage of its flavor and (depending on the variety) its intense color. In the Andes region, it is made into fried chips, biscuits, and coarse flour. Because it is highly digestible (due to the small size of its starch
grains), purées and soups made from it are considered excellent for babies and children.
Fresh arracachas keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. 100 grams of arracacha provide about 100 calorie
s (26 g of dry matter, 23 g being carbohydrate
, and less than 1 g of protein
). The plant is rich in calcium
(four times as much as potato
es).
The yellow cultivar
contains substantial amounts of carotenoid
pigments, precursors to vitamin A
, to the point that excessive consumption of arracachas may cause yellowing of the skin (a condition that is not considered to be harmful).
The young stems can be eaten cooked or in salads, and the leaves can be fed to livestock.
The plant is very susceptible to viruses and is slow to mature (10–12 months) but requires much less fertilizer input than the potato
; its cultivation can be very lucrative. It was imported into Brazil in the 19th century and has been grown commercially since the 1960s. Brazilian crop improvement programs have developed varieties that grow in seven months.
The harvest season in the Southern Hemisphere spans from January to September. The roots must be picked promptly lest they become woody. They have a short shelf life and must reach consumers within a week of harvest. The plant grows west of the Andes at altitudes varying from 200 m to 3600 m, but optimally between 1800 and 2500 m. It is frequently grown with other crops such as maize
, beans, and coffee
.
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
root vegetable
Root vegetable
Root vegetables are plant roots used as vegetables. Here "root" means any underground part of a plant.Root vegetables are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. They differ in the concentration and the balance between sugars, starches, and other types of...
originally from the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, somewhat intermediate between the carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
and celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
. Its starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
y taproot
Taproot
A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant...
is a popular food item in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, especially in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
where it is a major commercial crop.
The name arracacha (or racacha) was borrowed into Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
from Quechua, and is used in the Andean
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
region. The plant is also called apio or apio criollo ("Creole celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
") in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, zanahoria blanca ("white carrot") in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, virraca in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and mandioquinha ("little cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
") or batata-baroa in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It is sometimes called white carrot in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, but that name properly belongs to white varieties of the common carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
.
The leaves are similar to parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
, and vary from dark green to purple. The roots resemble fat short carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, with lustrous off-white skin. The interior may be white, yellow, or purple.
Cultivation and uses
The most important part is the starchy root. It cannot be eaten raw, but when cooked, it develops a distinctive flavor and aroma that have been described as "a delicate blend of celery, cabbage and roast chestnuts".The boiled root has about the same uses as boiled potatoes, including side dishes, purée
Purée
Purée and mash are general terms for cooked food, usually vegetables or legumes, that have been ground, pressed, blended, and/or sieved to the consistency of a soft creamy paste or thick liquid. Purées of specific foods are often known by specific names, e.g., mashed potatoes or apple sauce...
s, dumpling
Dumpling
Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...
s and gnocchi
Gnocchi
Gnocchi are various thick, soft dumplings. They may be made from semolina, ordinary wheat flour, flour and egg, flour, egg, and cheese, potato, bread crumbs, or similar ingredients. The smaller forms are called gnocchetti....
, pastries, etc., with the advantage of its flavor and (depending on the variety) its intense color. In the Andes region, it is made into fried chips, biscuits, and coarse flour. Because it is highly digestible (due to the small size of its starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
grains), purées and soups made from it are considered excellent for babies and children.
Fresh arracachas keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. 100 grams of arracacha provide about 100 calorie
Calorie
The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...
s (26 g of dry matter, 23 g being carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
, and less than 1 g of protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
). The plant is rich in calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
(four times as much as potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es).
The yellow cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
contains substantial amounts of carotenoid
Carotenoid
Carotenoids are tetraterpenoid organic pigments that are naturally occurring in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some bacteria, and some types of fungus. Carotenoids can be synthesized fats and other basic organic metabolic building...
pigments, precursors to vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
, to the point that excessive consumption of arracachas may cause yellowing of the skin (a condition that is not considered to be harmful).
The young stems can be eaten cooked or in salads, and the leaves can be fed to livestock.
The plant is very susceptible to viruses and is slow to mature (10–12 months) but requires much less fertilizer input than the potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
; its cultivation can be very lucrative. It was imported into Brazil in the 19th century and has been grown commercially since the 1960s. Brazilian crop improvement programs have developed varieties that grow in seven months.
The harvest season in the Southern Hemisphere spans from January to September. The roots must be picked promptly lest they become woody. They have a short shelf life and must reach consumers within a week of harvest. The plant grows west of the Andes at altitudes varying from 200 m to 3600 m, but optimally between 1800 and 2500 m. It is frequently grown with other crops such as maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, beans, and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
.