So today we dug up the sun choke (also called Jerusalem Artichoke) rhizomes. These all came from three tiny pieces of root stock given us by the kind folks at Marshy Point Nature Center.
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Sunchoke tubers from the nice folks at Marshy Point Nature Center.
Yeah, there's a wild carrot in there, too. |
The Jerusalem Artichoke is a misnomer, having nothing to to whatsoever with Jerusalem (it's native American) and not being in any way an Artichoke. The name is thought to be a mispronunciation of
Giraselle, Italian for sunflower, which is what it is. The root can be treated like a potato in most ways, can be sliced thin and eaten raw, or baked, mashed, or cooked in stews. It has a wonderful, sweet taste, and does, indeed, have a bit of an artichoke flavor when cooked.
We had heard they were prolific in building tubers. They weren't kidding.
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| Right out of the ground. |
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| This is just a part of the harvest from 3, count em, 3 plants. |
So we dug up our multitude of tubers and are keeping them chilled. Some will go back in the ground in spring to make new crops, others will find their way into soups and stews and shepard's pies and the like.
Cool, hunh?
More later.
M
Wow! I had no idea sunchokes were so busy making tubers all summer. That's quiet a crop. I'll be interested to hear how your home crafted crab apple wine compliments a sunchoke dish. Enjoy! Pam
ReplyDeleteWe had heard the things were prolific, Pam, but that was really quite a haul from three little tubers planted in spring. When we cook em up I'll put the results either here or on Onboardcooking.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteM
I am interested in knowing how they tasted too
ReplyDeleteThey're really good, Shirley, rather like potato but with a bit more texture. We roasted them up with olive oil and rosemary and they're sensational.
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