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| September 17, 2020 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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PENINSULA PERMAGULTURE
Groundnuts: What’s in a name?
ome permaculture '
Splants have been part of
' horticultural programs
for centuries. The food value
of perennial Apios americana
tubers contributes to their
distribution all along the
northeastern seaboard and
inland to Colorado. Nomadic
indigenous tribes may have
planted these wild edibles
along their routes to guaran-
tee seasonal food.
I refer to them first by their scien-
tific name because few plants have so
many confusing sobriquets: groundnut,
openauk, hodoimo (in Asia), cinnamon
vine, potato bean, Indian potato, Ameri-
can groundnut, and hopniss, said to
originate with the Lenape people.
Curious explorers should use the Lat-
in/scientific name to avoid anavalanche
of results about peanuts (Arachis hypo-
gaea), which are called groundnuts as
well. Because peanuts are a commercial
crop, their information overpopulates'
versus that of the pre-economic hopniss.
I have grown hopniss for three years
on Harstine Island, and have found it
a curiously tenacious perennial. This
flowering vine can grow up to 16 feet. In
our climate, I have seen it top out at 10
feet, and this year is the first time it has
flowered.
The beautiful magenta flowers have
the shape of orchids or snub-nosed wis-
teria, which is telling because both wis-
teria and hopniss fix nitrogen. They are
said to smell like violets. As of this writ-
ing mine haven’t opened and everything
still smells like smoke. In the Olympic
Peninsula, hopniss may set seed in
By ALEX .
FETHIERE
hotter years. Cultivariable’s
William Whitson harvested
seed in 2016, and my Virginia
hopniss is flowering right now.
An early frost would kill the
seeds, so I’m hoping this mild
summer will carry on.
Seeds are not the principal
means of propagating hopniss,
however. According to early
English settlers, they can be
cooked like peas. Hopniss’ ed-
ible tubers form on long strings
like rosary beads. These can be found up
to 3 feet away from the original planting.
Planted sideways and kept moist, tubers
will sprout in late spring, but watch out
for slugs. I grow them to 4 inches before
planting and use the slug deterrents I’ve ’
discussed in earlier columns.
White'on recommends planting them
in dedicated areas, but I have seen them
return in both annual beds and peren-
nial placements. The greatest flourish-
ing is happening on a slash-pile mound.
that I managed for biochar and layered
with maple leaf mulch and a surface
of 60/20/20 manure/sand/peat. All my
plantings are watered automatically in
the early morning with drip lines.
In the second year, I had given up on
the hapniss, but after planting tomatoes,
squash and sweet potatoes there I found
their lovely vines erupting through the
leaves and flowering. In a different loca-
tion, afier planting tomatoes a row of
neglected hopniss returned alter a year
under weeds. Still Others appeared after
12 months of snoozing when I planted
potatoes and goldenberries near them.
so they’re beautiful, perennial, nec-
tary plants (feeding pollinators) that fix
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Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-9
A bee enjoys. a hopniss flower — Apios americana — on a vine that
twines through tomatoes. Journal photo by Alex Féthiere
nitrogen and provide food for humans.
The shoots, flowers and beans are edible,
but especially the tubers. But how do
they taste? _‘
s I can’t say. This might be the first
year I have enough of a yield to harvest.
That certainly isn’t because I’vebabied
them. , ‘
I defer to such august personages as
Thoreau, who pronounced it a “fabulous
fruit” with a “sweetish taste” that was
“better-boiled than roasted.” Common
descriptions have it as a nutty potato ,
with a fibrous texture, in its second year
typically the size of a walnut (although
Dr. Blackmon’s breeding programs at
Louisiana State University developed tu-
bers the size of a navel orange). They’re
said to make great chips.
Some people have a reaction to eat-
ing them. Whitson recommends eating
a small amount 10 times to see whether
they disagree with you.
Some accounts attribute a “beany”
taste to the tubers, which makes sense
.because hopniss is a legume with three
times the protein of potatoes. Honest-
food.net has interesting suggestions
about how to prepare the tubers, as well
as historical uses by tribe: the Delaware '
use the tuber flour to thicken soups, the
Cherokee eat the beans, the Menominee
cook the tubers with maple syrup and
the Dakota use them like potatoes.
After years'of replanting meager
yields, I’m looking forward to a harvest I
can play with!
I Alex Féthiére has lived on Harst-
ine Island long enough to forget New
York City, where he built community
gardens and double-dug his suburban
sod into a victory garden. He can be
reached at onlandis_t@gmail.com.
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