I believe that you scrub them up and boil like potatoes. However they do come with a health warning - there are certain side effects that make it better for you to spend as much time outdoors as possible after eating them, avoid enclosed spaces with other people. You are not a lift attendant, I hope!

You can also use in soups and roast in the same way you would potatoes or parsnips but they do indeed come with a windy warning... They are very good for feeding to livestock but B and I avoid them like the plague!

And they are the very devil to get rid of from the garden if you find you do not like or cannot eat them. It took 4 years of digging and weed killing to remove them from here. Also we found that they only flowered when there was a late warm Autumn.

Thanks guys for your contributions. I read on the internet that they can produce flatulence. For you info, Bh, no, I'm not a lift attendant!!! LOL! :-D I'm having one root now cut up like chips & fried in the same way as chips. I tried one raw chip before frying & found it to be rather tasteless - I didn't detect the "nutty" flavour mentioned in one or two places on the internet that I looked at yesterday. I find the chips to be rather sweet - they remind me of new potatoes that also have a slightly sweet flavour.

I'll plant a couple of roots in some pots on the balcony rather than in the allotment, then Owdboggy. I'll let you know if I get any flowers.

My mother in law would cook these as potatoes for ten minutes, chopped small, then put them in a dish and add a garlic or a cheese sauce over the top and serve them as a starter. It's the only time I've ever eaten them - I can't say I detected any particular flavour to them either, although the cheese sauce was good!