Oca

Oca, pronounced with the accent on the “o,” is one of several names that the plant has in South America, but it is the sole name I’ve seen in the United States. I would like to offer numerous recipes for this delightful edible and write about it at length, but it is just barely available in North American markets so I’ll be fairly brief and hope that the situation changes and we have a regular supply sometime in the near future.

The fresh tuberettes I’ve tasted here (like the pale pink ones pictured) are crisp and moist, thin-skinned, sour-sweet, fruity-vegetably, starchy-waxy—in short, quite unlike anything else you’re likely to have eaten before unless you’re from the South American highlands, where several similar tubers originate and thrive.