FoodProcessing & Food Preservation

How to Harvest and Use Queensland Arrowroot

​Queensland arrowroot ​(Canna edulis) provides food for us, food for chickens, pigs, cattle and goats, mulch and/or compost material, and shelter for other plants. It’s super easy to grow and to harvest and it self-propagates to a certain extent but is not weedy or invasive. And I think it looks beautiful. 

What more could a polyculture food grower ask?

 

Recently we tidied up an area where we had a sea of mature arrowroot ​in need of maintenance. ​

Arrowroot Maintenance
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

A sea of arrowroot is a very good thing to have, so long as you remember to get to it before it drowns the young fruit trees it’s supposed to be protecting. In this picture (above) the arrowroot was planted in a windy area as part of a shelter belt for young trees, and the wind has gotten the better of it.

 

Arrowroot Chop and Drop
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

​When mature arrowroot gets too crowded, it grows tall and ​spindly, as you can see to the left in the picture above. Here, Alain is “chopping and dropping” — cutting down the long stems and foliage and laying them ​on the ground to form a layer of mulch.

 

Arrowroot Stems
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

​In the picture above, you can see the base of the arrowroot after the stems have been cut down (and the litter cleared away for you to see better).

This clump can be lifted with a garden fork and broken up. From it we’ll get very small round ​rhizomes attached to stems for replanting, larger young rhizomes/tubers for eating, and older, woody tubers ​(ideas on what to do with those are below). ​

​In a mature arrowroot planting it’s a good idea to lift old clumps when they get crowded and congested​, otherwise the older, woody tubers ​lift the ​new ones above soil level so that they can’t reach the earth, and then they produce weak, thin stems.

 

Arrowroot Remove
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

Here (above) is a pile from several clumps we’ve lifted and broken ​up. You can see young white and purple tubers for eating (top left), old woody tubers that needed to be removed from underneath young ones (middle), and small round rhizomes attached to stems, ​for replanting (top right).

​Note that when I say “remove” the old woody tubers, I don’t mean “discard.” If you have no ​other use for them, chop them roughly with a shovel and return them to the mulch layer here, to feed the soil so it can feed more arrowroot for you. ​(I’ve suggested some other uses, below.)

 

Arrowroot bulb
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

In the picture above you can see the beautiful purplish tubers sitting just at soil level.

If you leave these, they’ll produce thick stems like the green stems you can see in the pic. If you harvest them now, the ​two on the right will be good to eat and the ​one on the left will be good for replanting somewhere else, or replanting in the same spot.

 

Arrowroot Tuber
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

This picture (above) shows a large but still young and fresh tuber (two, actually) for eating.

Notice that the areas between and below the purplish colour are still white and fresh-looking, not brown and woody looking like in the pic below.

 

Arrowroot Old Tuber
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

This picture shows a large, older tuber. You can eat this, but it will be harder to peel and ​more fibrous to eat.

It’s best suited for:

  • Feeding to pigs, if you have them. Some pigs will eat this enthusiastically; others, depending I suppose on what else is available to them, will prefer it if you boil it first.
  • ​If you have chickens, you could ​try boiling ​these old tubers and offering ​them to your chickens. I haven’t ​done this but I bet it’s worth a try.
  • You ​can also replant ​the older tubers. The two little round bulbs you see ​(middle bottom and top right) will grow into new stems.
  • If none of those uses suits, ​you can chop the old tubers roughly with a shovel and leave them on the surface of ​the soil as part of the mulch, or ​add them ​to your compost bin.
Arrowroot Mulch
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

Here you can see a row of our food forest after the arrowroot tidy-up session. Lots of mulch on the ground (above) and two armloads of food and propagation material (below).

Arrowroot Food
Photograph by Author, Kate Martignier.

 

 

​Preparing Arrowroot For Cooking

​I ​made a short video ​showing ​how I peel an arrowroot tuber to prepare it for cooking.   Please click the “watch on Vimeo” button in the image below or follow this link, then ​​come back here to read the ​arrowroot cooking tips next…

​​

Welcome back…

I like to peel arrowroot tubers outdoors, under running water – that way I don’t have to have them super clean before I start peeling, since the soil and debris comes off with the peel.

Start at the top, where the shoot emerges. Cut off the shoot, but not all the way – then grip it between thumb and knife and pull.  A long strip of skin should pull off. ​If you watched​ the video​, you’ll have seen this clearly.

Put your peeled tuber in a bowl of water and keep it submerged till it’s ready to cut, so it doesn’t turn brown.

If you have too many to use in one meal, either put them in a bag in the fridge with most of the dirt washed off but the skins still on, or peel them and then store them in the fridge in a lidded tub, submerged in water. They’ll keep at least several days, longer with a change of water.

 

 

Cooking Arrowroot

Above, you can see arrowroot tubers peeled and sitting in a bowl of water, ready for chopping. They’re in water because they go brown if you leave them out in the air after peeling.

 

 

Deep Fried Arrowroot Chips

We deep-fried the slices in the picture, in our home-grown and home-rendered lard.

Deep-fried arrowroot chips are not the same as potato chips, but in our opinion they’re a fair substitute.

Keep a close eye on them as they start to brown slightly in the ​fat – soon after they start to go ever so slightly brown, they’ll quickly go from “just done” to “overdone.”  They don’t really get crispy.  Done, they’re ​still soft enough to chew; overdone, they’re unpleasantly hard.

 

 

Arrowroot Chopped Into A Stir-Fry

My latest favourite way to eat arrowroot is chopped and ​shallow fried in bacon fat (or your cooking fat of choice) ​with other veggies.

Cooked like this it becomes a bit more potato-like in consistency, and I ​like it’s mild, pleasant flavour. It goes with everything.

Last night we had arrowroot, choko and onion fried up together till soft, then I added chopped winged beans and sweet leaf right before serving. And a dash of soy sauce.

 

 

Arrowroot Chopped Into A Soup Or A Stew

Chopped up and dropped into a soup or a stew, arrowroot will keep its crunch no matter how long you cook it. It still goes with everything, and it makes a great meal extender.

 

 

Tighter Integrations

Even if I had never gotten consistent about using arrowroot in the kitchen, I would still have kept it in many plantings around our place for its many other uses.

But now that I’m getting better at harvesting and preparing arrowroot quickly for our kitchen, our arrowroot plantings will be better maintained and we’ll be better fed, and one small step closer to our goal of supermarket independence.

 

 

Byline

Kate writes at ARealGreenLife.com about thinking differently and living a more natural, connected, and sustainable life. Check out her free eGuide, “Ditching the Supermarket,” or visit her free downloads page or her blog.

Kate Martignier

Kate writes at ARealGreenLife.com – an exploration into thinking differently and living a more natural, connected, and sustainable life.

17 Comments

  1. By the way, Canna has two n’s…Thanks for this. I have some growing in a pot but haven’t done anything with them yet, and they’ve split the pot, so it’s overdue! Have you tried to start them from seed? Is it worth it to try, in case I kill the tubers I have, or they’re too far gone to reproduce?
    Aloha,
    Alina

    1. Hi Alina
      Thanks so much for spotting that spelling error :)
      I’ve never tried starting them from seed because A, usually I cut the stem down before it flowers, so as to harvest all that energy rather than losing it, and B, the tubers are SO easy. Really, stick them in the ground and they’ll grow. If there’s any moisture around, you can drop them on the ground and they’ll often grow. If you can’t get more and want to be really safe, divide the one you have, keep some in pots, and plant the rest until you feel confident to put them all out. Good luck!
      Kate

    2. Have been growing arrowroot for several years now. Started as I heard it was excellent cool & shady space for chickens in the heat (tick). Curiosity as lead me to experiment with it in cooking – grated in minestrone soup makes a great thickener without any glugginess. And pre-cook (grated bulb in water boil until thick) then add fresh or cooked mulberries and use as the basis for a delightful mulberry pie. With a bit of imagination one can see it being very useful in any soup, or any fruit pie. And like you Kate, stems are chopped for compost or green mulch. Nothing wasted. Do you know if they flower?

      1. hi Barb, they do produce a spindly red ginger-like flower if you allow them to but I rarely do — I usually harvest them for one use or another before they reach that stage.

  2. Kate, thank you! Viva achira! The ancestors in eastern US were raising achira for the starch when the English arrived. I live in Arizona and seem to be the only one who wants it that can’t grow it. Too little wind protection seems to be the trouble. For starch, older, healthy roots are used. Clean, peel, grind them, and wash. Starch settles to the bottom fibers float to the top. In the past 50 years, this has become the primary starch noodle flour. The little kids get the giggles about eating ‘invisible’ spaghetti :) peace to all!

    1. Hi Red, thanks for the starch harvesting tip! I imagine the second large tuber I showed, above, that I said would be fibrous to eat, might be ideal if you want starch?
      I hope you can find a way to get some going at your place.
      cheers
      Kate

    1. Hi Wendy, I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I have not made arrowroot biscuits, no. Just for fun I’ve tried chopping the tuber and leaving it in water so the starch can collect at the bottom, the idea being you would then dehydrate that to get your arrowroot flour… but it seems like a very small amount of starch for a lot of time/effort to me. Perhaps there is a better way?

  3. Hi Kate it’s a great substitute for potatoes in the curry dish. Some how it wasn’t too starchy at all. In fact it was better then potatoes because it holds the shape well.

  4. Hi Kate,
    I am growing an edible garden which includes Galangal and Arrowroot. I have used arrowroot flour as a thickening agent in years gone by and I chose this plant as it is robust and can be used in a great variety of ways.
    My 1st experiment is to harvest the starch from my current crop (which is tiny).
    I also grow Pigface, Basil, Watercress, Majoram, Rosemary, Lemon Thyme, Lemon Balm, Oregano, Vietnamese mint, Blueberry, and my fav herb is Pineapple and Tropical Sage. Eggplants are going well too.
    I thoroughly enjoyed your article. Keep up the good work.

    1. There is a lot of confusion about arrowroot flour. What you buy in the shops is from a totally different plant. I made a flour from Qld arrowroot (Canna edulis) many years ago – really simple.
      Wash and scrub the roots as best you can (not overly fussy), then pop them in a blender and pour into a deep bowl (I use an ice cream container). Fill to the top with cold water and leave overnight. Carefully drain off the liquid and dry. I do this in summer, using a flat oven tray and spreading the mix quite thinly over the tray.
      Just about to try this with Indian shot, which is almost identical to Qld arrowroot, the flowers are ever so slightly different and of course it produces seeds unlike the true Queenslander.

  5. Hi
    I find the tubers are much easier to peel after they are cooked. I use these mashed in many ways such as a cup full in home made bread, as mash mixed with herbs etc. I dice the smaller tubers and ‘shake’ them with olive oil then cook in the air fryer.
    I have seen how people get flour from tubers but haven’t had success with the Qld arrowroot yet. I’d like to try and make a dough with the flour, mix in lots of yummy things then make chips in the oven. The famous vlogger Liziqi does this with tubers and I’d like to try.
    Nathan

    1. Thanks Nathan for the tip about cooking first then peeling second — I’m going to try that, as peeling is the most time consuming part for me.

  6. Hi there, I have just made my first harvest and peeled it under running water, and immediately got it under water. But it has started oxidising straight away! And continuing to do so, it seems. Lucky I kept most of the harvest just covered with some dirt in the laundry tub. Any advice?

  7. Hi Nicole I don’t have any advice, really. It seems they go a bit brown no matter what I do, so I dont worry too much about it. I do avoid peeling them until I need them. Sorry not to be more helpful!

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