Pueraria lobata, kudzu

Pueraria lobata, kudzu 

Pueraria lobata, also called Kudzu vine, is an invasive perennial legume, which can be disturbing for some but useful in other circumstances, used in the culinary field but little known, in fact its roots contain up to 10% starch and can be used to thicken the sauce. Kudzu contains gelling properties.

The harvest of the roots is from autumn to spring. Favorable to moderate climatic conditions with mild winter. (5 ° -10 °)

Article 1950

Kudzu (P. hirsuta) can be cultivated throughout France, but in the North it can only be propagated vegetatively by cutting fragments of rootstems at the nodes." This cuttings should be done in early spring when the new shoots are not yet leafy, the cuttings are spaced 3 m from each other.It is only the third year, after being set up, that these new plants have emitted stems that can be 8 to 10 m long and completely cover the soil. The Kudzu which is widespread in France as an ornamental plant ripens its seeds only in the South. It takes the pods to ripen about 6 to 7 months. When the first cold weather arrives in Paris they freeze while they are still young "