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This is frankly one of my favorite topics--and there's some awesome threads on it, too.

Staple Crops

How Many Of Each Plant To Grow As A Percentage Of Total Calories

The Annual Staple Crop Calculator

Practical 1-Acre Staple Foods

Human Energy Spent Versus Kilocalories Harvested.....

Ideas about Growing All Your Own Food

Most productive perennial vegetables?

Staples

Perennial Sources of Starch and Protein

I thought it might be fun to have an apple poll...which also ends up being a spiffy way to list all of the different staple crops mentioned by people over various threads, so that those crops can be seen in one spot. I tried to organize them a little, but our apple poll program makes it really difficult to rearrange things. If you have more crops you'd like added, post below! There's no closing date on this poll, so hopefully we'll be able to adding to it for years to come



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pollinator
Posts: 424
Location: New Hampshire
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Question about this poll.  Are you looking for staple crops people actually grow or just ones we are interested in?


 
steward
Posts: 21471
Location: Pacific Northwest
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All of the above! If there's any not on the list, post them and I'll add them. That way, the list is more comprehensive. And, then vote on the ones you, yourself, like/think are best.

(It can be frustrating wading through threads to see what people think are good staple crops. I want this apple poll to both be a reference listing all the staple crops, thats relatively easy to update. Having it as a poll makes it a bit more fun, and gives people the ability to which crops most people like/think are best).
 
Posts: 8783
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
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I started to mention the correct the spelling of persimmon and then when checking found this...

The persimmon /pərˈsɪmən/ (sometimes spelled persimon) is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros. Diospyros is in the family Ebenaceae, and other members of the genus are grown for ebony timber.



I'm pretty sure 'walnut' has only one 'el' though.

Sorry, I'm in editing mode...my guy is into his third chap book and 10,000th edit
 
gardener
Posts: 802
Location: 4200 ft elevation, zone 8a desert, high of 118F, lows in teens
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Was chufa (tigernut) in there?  Those are so easy to grow if you can do ground-things, and are really tasty.  They make a great milk-like drink.

Are parsnips on the list?  Maybe I missed them?  Those are also nice and easy, but I think they are more of an acquired taste here in the US.  They are really good cut thin in sticks and baked, even my husband ate them then.

This may sound silly, but my top choice is onions.  Onions in all forms. Year round onions... green onions (which really are year round in places like western Oregon), leeks which hold well through the winter in ground with a little straw, bulb onions, potato onions, chives, shallots (I actually prefer the greens on those, so sweet), garlic, and all the rest of the related variants.  They were my main staple crop for most of my gardening years. The easiest things to grow for me, and the only things the slugs didn't devour.  Nor our ducks.

I hope more people try oca, too.  We grew a ton of it back in Oregon, and it was so delicious... such a great, different tuber.  It was my favorite of the Andean tubers, while my husband's favorite was yacon.

 
Nicole Alderman
steward
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Added parsnips and chufa! Thanks for the suggestions!

Onions are on there (I really wish it were easier to organize items on these polls--we can only add new data to the bottom, which makes it difficult to keeps similar plants together). The list is crazy long, too!

It might be easiest to search  the page for various crops. On a desk top, you can type ctrl and F at the same time to bring up the search function. I have no idea how to do it on a mobile device, though!
 
pollinator
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Location: Montana
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Suggest adding Salsify, Leeks, and Garlic. Here is why: The grow biointensive gardening website lists only seven crops as "High Calorie Root Crops"

Potatoes, Parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, Sweet Potatoes you have on the list. I didn't see the other three. Planning to try all but sweet potatoes in my garden 2019.

These seven crops therefore are critical to growing more food in less space. Growing more food in less space gives us land and time for other things.
 
pollinator
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We grow and eat taro as a staple
 
Nicole Alderman
steward
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pollinator
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Location: Seattle, WA
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I'd vote for plums. They grow crazy here and produce more fruit than all our other trees combined.

And kale. I know there's leafy greens, but among those, kale is the only one I'd consider a 'staple' because it's hardy and long lived.
Staff note (Nicole Alderman) :

Added to the poll!

 
pioneer
Posts: 471
Location: Russia, ~250m altitude, zone 5a, Moscow oblast, in the greater Sergeiv Posad reigon.
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Please add burdock.
Staff note (Nicole Alderman) :

Added to the poll!

 
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