December’s Harvest: Jerusalem Artichokes
Most gardens have now been put to bed. The air is brisk, the snow has fallen, the last of the tomatoes have been canned and dried. But fortunately, we’re still digging up tasty Jerusalem artichoke tubers for fresh-from-the-garden meals.
Jerusalem artichokes are neither artichokes, nor from Jerusalem. They’re tubers, native to North America, and the plant is related to and resembles sunflowers. (In fact, these days they are often called “sunchokes.”) “Jerusalem” is thought to have evolved from the Italian name for the plant, “girasole” for sunflower. Cooked, they taste surprisingly like artichokes.
Sunchoke tubers look a lot like ginger root, and have a nutty, crunchy, sweet flesh. Common preparations include thinly-shaved raw over salads, roasted (like potatoes), or cooked and puréed into savory winter soups.
Although available year-round, the prime harvest season for sunchokes is in winter. Imagine enjoying a beautiful sunflower garden all summer, while harvesting delicious, healthy food all winter…year after year. You can have it with sunchokes. Simply keep a few tubers in the ground from each harvest and they’ll come back in the spring.
Select smooth, firm tubers with a minimum of bumps and blemishes. Store in a dark, cool and dry area for 1-3 weeks. Before eating or cooking, scrub the tubers thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Since the peels are edible, peeling is optional. We grow our sunchokes organically and there are so many wonderful nutrients in the skin that we leave them on for most recipes.
Sunchokes store their carbohydrates in the form of inulin, a starch that is not utilized by the body for energy, unlike sugar – making them a great potato substitute for diabetics. However, they can cause flatulence in some people so you may want to take it easy the first time around. For those sensitive to gas-producing foods, try slow-cooking sunchokes for extra time, or boiling before cooking, and avoid eating them raw.
They’re more expensive than potatoes in the store, but they are a healthy, delicious, beautiful and easy-to-maintain addition to your landscape.
The Sunshine Food Project wants to bring good food to the people of North Park Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods, but we can’t do it without you. We are a 100% volunteer organization. Help us build organic veggie mobiles to deliver good food to a location near you. Visit sunshinefoodproject.org to donate or find out more. Campaign ends December 8. Join us for a Community Appreciation & Fundraising Rally December 3, 6pm @ The Garden, 3435 Albion Street. Prizes, snacks, drinks, fun for the kids.
Roasted Sunchokes
Recipe courtesy of TheKitchn
Great for parties – add brussel sprouts, cauliflower and walnuts for a festive holiday side dish.
Ingredients:
• 2 to 3 large sunchokes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves removed
• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Scrub the sunchokes under cold running water and slice 1/4-inch thick. Add the sunchokes and garlic to a roasting pan or baking sheet and toss with the olive oil so the bottom of the pan and the sunchokes are lightly coated. Add more olive oil a tablespoon at a time if you don’t feel like the vegetables are coated enough, but not too much; you don’t want them swimming in olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and rosemary. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sunchokes are tender inside, like a potato.