Konjac (Amorphophallus konjac) - Tubers - The bizarre beauty with the diet secret

Fascinated by the Titan Arum but intimidated by its care? Then the Devil's Tongue is just the thing for you! It is the uncomplicated, absolutely robust little sister in the Araceae family. It offers a spectacular bloom, a leaf that looks like a small tree, and quite incidentally provides the raw material for the ultimate superfood.

Scope of delivery: As selected

Note: Sizes and, in particular, the weight of larger tubers are subject to natural fluctuations during the dormant phase.

Growth & Appearance

• Lifespan: Perennial, tuber-forming plant.

• Growth height: The single, umbrella-like leaf that the plant forms in summer often grows over 1 meter (sometimes up to 1.5 meters) high and looks like a small palm tree.

• Habit: The petiole is an absolute eye-catcher! It is smooth and distinctly mottled, making it look astonishingly like snakeskin (hence the name "Snake Palm").

• Bloom: If the tuber is large enough (from approx. 500 g tuber weight), it will send up a huge, deep wine-red to black-violet bloom in late winter in the shape of a giant Calla lily, with a long spadix (the "Devil's Tongue") protruding from the center.

Origin Its original home is in the warm, humid Southeast Asia (especially in China, Japan, and Vietnam), where it grows in shady to semi-shady forests.

Ingredients (The weight-loss miracle & an IMPORTANT WARNING)

• The magic fiber: The tuber is rich in glucomannan. This highly absorbent dietary fiber can bind 50 times(!) its own weight in water.

• Warning, toxic when raw! Like all Araceae, the plant contains sharp calcium oxalate crystals in all parts. The tuber must under no circumstances be eaten raw and requires elaborate processing.

Usage

• In the kitchen (Fitness food): In Asia, jelly, flour, and noodles have been made from the tuber's flour for centuries. Here, we know them primarily as calorie-free "Shirataki noodles" – the holy grail of every low-carb diet, as they are very filling but have almost zero calories.

• In cosmetics: The famous, extremely soft "konjac sponges" for gentle facial cleansing are made from the plant fibers.

• In the garden/home: A fascinating ornamental plant that does wonderfully on the balcony or in a garden bed during the summer.

Historical In Japan, the konjac root has been cultivated as a valuable medicinal and food plant since the 6th century. It was originally used as medicine for coughs and for intestinal cleansing ("broom for the stomach").

Curiosities (The miracle on the windowsill, the "fragrance" & the flytrap) The Devil's Tongue has some absolute eccentricities in store:

1. The dry bloomer: Once the tuber has reached its blooming weight, it wakes you up out of nowhere in late winter with a flower. The crazy thing: It needs neither soil nor water for this! You can simply lay the bare tuber down in a dry place, and it will push out its gigantic bloom solely from the energy stored in the tuber.

2. The carrion smell (Follow the gardener's tip!): Similar to the Titan Arum, the flower emits an extreme odor of rotting meat for a few days. Therefore, the absolute pro tip: Wait until at least February in winter before you place the dormant tuber in a warmer spot! This artificially delays the bloom a bit, allowing you to place the blooming plant, along with its beastly stench, directly outside your door. Do not put it in the hallway under any circumstances! Otherwise, the whole house will stink – unless, of course, you want to "delight" unloved neighbors with it...

3. Pollination (A clever trap): The nasty stench has a purpose: it attracts blowflies and carrion beetles. They crawl deep down into the base of the flower and are kept "trapped" there overnight by extremely slippery walls, in order to pollinate the female flowers located at the very bottom. Only on the next day do the male flowers open, generously dusting the trapped insects with fresh pollen, and the wall of the vessel becomes grippy again so the flies can escape. Important for seed collectors: Since the female and male flowers on the same plant mature at different times to avoid inbreeding, you generally need the pollen of a second, simultaneously blooming Devil's Tongue for successful pollination (and the harvest of the red berries)!

Location, care & overwintering (Absolutely beginner-friendly!)

• Location (Summer): Partial shade. Happily outdoors in a garden bed or a large container from mid-May.

• Soil: Humus-rich, nutrient-rich, and loose. It grows rapidly in summer and has a correspondingly large appetite and thirst.

• The dormant phase (Winter): When the snake-like leaf turns yellow and falls over in autumn, the plant enters dormancy. Now, simply take the tuber out of the soil, brush it off carefully with a soft brush, and store it completely dry, dark, frost-free, and above all not too warm! (If you store it too warm, the flower will sprout much too early). Overwintering couldn't be simpler!

• The cycle: In spring, tiny pink "horns" appear on the tuber – this is the new growth! As soon as these horns grow, you simply plant them back into fresh soil, and the spectacle begins all over again.