Corianders Rival

After pondering a thread in which fellow allotmenters were discussing 'lessons learned this year' I got to thinking...

Coriander seems to be one of those herbs you either love or hate - a bit like Marmite. Angela Hartnet has named it 'The Devils Herb' and this view is subscribed to by Tim Lovejoy on Something for the Weekend too. I must agree with them...I hate it too.

But I have a very strong contender for second place - What do you think of giving second place to the Jerusalem Artichoke? To be honest, I think the only reason anyone chooses to grow it is because they are given a few tubers from a 'friend' and they stick them in. Does anyone actually buy tubers? Once they're planted, one feels quite proud as they shoot up, give a lovely yellow flower, and all from those couple of gifted tubers. But then what do you actually do with them when you harvest the hundreds that come from that small handful you were given back in the spring? A nice recipe is found, and feeling all positive one steps into the kitchen only to spend an age scrubbing or peeling the blighters. With all their knobbly bits they are a genuine pain. But unthwarted one continues with the recipe. Upon completion the meal is OK, and one feels content. Until the Jerusalem Artichoke starts 'round two' later the same evening (no more detail needed). I mean really, there are a limited number of recipes to try. We even tried wine one year, however, didn't manage to get all the mud off and ended up with...well...muddy Jerusalem Artichoke water.

All one seems to do is repeat the cycle and pass a few on to a 'friend' amidst bucket loads of enthusiasm on how easy they are to grow. Yes they are, but it's all the rest that's a pain. Not to mention the tubers that you didn't just manage to get out that grow again and again year on year.

I put mine in a bucket to grow last year, and after leaving them for two seasons have decided to scrap the lot. My plot is free of Jerusalem Artichokes. That was my lesson learned...don't bother with Jerusalem Artichokes...ever!

I'll put my thinking cap on for my third place. After watching  HFW on repeat, Cauliflower is his pet hate...but I don't think I can let that into third place. Anyone else got any thoughts?

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