Cultivated they're "Sunchokes" wild they're Jerusalem Artichokes
There used to be a huge patch of Jerusalem Artichokes here in Central Florida beside the Interstate. Now they’re under a new exit ramp, and that was the only place I saw them in Central Florida although they grow in northern Florida and almost all of North America except New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
In fact, my mother as a kid in northern Vermont used to tell about coming home after school in the fall and stopping in the kitchen only long enough to grab a salt shaker. Then she and her two brothers would run out and dig up Jerusalem Artichokes and eat away. She did it because her mother did it and her grandmother did.
Large yellow blossoms, sand paper leaves
Of course, Jerusalem artichokes have nothing to do with Jerusalem or with artichokes, being in the sunflower family. They are quite easy to raise and one fascinating element about them is their carbohydrate is “inulin.” Diabetics can eat it without affecting their blood sugar. When the plant was first discovered by Europeans they called it Girasole, the Italian word for turning to the sun, which some in the family do. Over time Girasole got mangled into Jerusalem. Recently they have been called sunchokes, a more fitting and sorter name.
The artichoke part of the Jerusalem Artichoke’s name comes from the taste of its edible tuber. Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, sent the first samples of the plant to France, noting that its taste was similar to an artichoke. The word artichoke comes form the Arab phrase Ardi-Shoki which means “ground thorny.” The roots are very lumpy. The scientific name is quite easy to sort out: Helianthus tuberosus. (hee-lee-AN-thus tew-ber-OH-sus.) Helianthus means sunflower and tuberosus means having tubers.
Jerusalem artichokes are about 80% water, 15% protein, 1% fat, 60% inulin, 4% fiber and 5% ash, 0.099% phosphorus, 0.023%, 3.4 mg iron with traces of aluminum, chlorine, iodine, magnesium, potassium, sulphur, zinc, vitamins B and C.
Jerusalem artichoke root is also used to produce a spirit called “Topinambur” “Topi” or “Rossler.” Topinambour is the French word for Jerusalem Artichokes and comes from a tribe of Brazilian Indians who were taken to France about the same time as the root.
Green Deane’s “Itemizing” plant profile
IDENTIFICATION: Large, gangly, multi-branched plant to 10 feet tall, rough, sandpapery leaves and stems. Many yellow flowers. Leaves ovate, broadest below the middle, 5-10 inches long. Flower 3-4 cinches across with 10-20 bright yellow petals
TIME OF YEAR: Showy blossoms in late summer and early fall. Pick tubes two weeks after flowers fade.
ENVIRONMENT: Almost any soil but the softer, fertile and friable the better. Grow your own! By some from the grocery story and plant in spring, even in pots.
METHOD OF PREPARATION: Raw or cooked or pickled. Tedious to clean, and overcooks easily. Excellent grated raw into salads, boiled lightly similar to potatoes, will make make French fries and creamy soup. Can be roasted but eat immediately after cooking as they grow mushy in a few minutes.
Do sell the Jerusalem root and how much is it. Which store in NM is carrying this item?
Not, I don’t sell them because most grocery stores carry them. Look for “sun chokes.”
Which store cn I purchase the sun chokes from
when in season nearly all large grocery stores carry them, or you can order them from seed catalogues.
I am not such a fan of these because they cause gas when you eat them. Your body cannot digest the inulin they contain. Also as it mentioned they are tedious to clean and if you plant them they are aggresive spreaders.
they are aggressive spreaders however they can be easily contained, I grow mine in an old claw foot bath and they look fantastic, I use what I need then give away the excess.
The name “sunchoke” doesn’t refer to a cultivated variety, it has become vogue because it’s more politically correct than “Jerusalem” anything. I’ve only seen “Jerusalem artichoke” in the supermarket, not “sunchoke”. And I’ve heard the wild type referred to as sunchoke.
I used both terms because while they are Jerusalem artichoke they are marketed locally as sunchokes.
they don’t store except in the ground. eat them any time you can dig.(frozen ground may stop you)
Hey there, looks like the percentages are off when your describing the nutrient content, goes way over 100% total.
One does not count water as a nutriment.
I wonder how long anything would last without water? It is the number one nutrient. Now we can move onto nutriments. Well I have no idea about those, but if I could have a nutritious mint, or ‘nutrimint’ then I would be delighted.
Will they grow in western palm beach county (Wellington) ?
Yes they will… but not in the heat of summer.
I grow them in Okeechobee, FL with no trouble. This is my 3rd year growing them and my patch is getting bigger every year.
I grow mine as a windbreak in the summer/fall and for making sunchoke pickles in the late fall and fresh veggies for dipping in your favorite dip!!
I live in Mid-western Ontario, so we get a nice bucket of seasons
I would love to have a recipe for pickling them.
JUST pickle them like cucumbers. That’s what I did and they turned out great. Bread and butter were better than dill.
Can one eat the rest of the plant?
Usually one does not.
The stems on other sunflowers are edible (after peeling) and I quite enjoy them. Wondering if you know about the edibility of sunchokes stems?
How do I determine if the sunflowers growing wild around my home in Utah have edible tubers or not? Would any wild sunflower be ok?
Most sunflowers do not put on an edible root. So that eliminates many species.
I did not know anything about the root artichokes just what people told me. My wife is cooking some today I will let you know how they was.
They Grow here in Puerto Vallarta in the river bed. The flowers are beautiful and the leaves I was wondering if I can eat them. Anyone?
I just read this article saying that in russia the stems and flowers are eaten! https://eng.thehouseofchronic.com/3891682-how-to-plant-topinambur-step-by-step-instructions
The texture would be awful.
Are the seeds edible, like normal sunflower seeds?
Usually they are too small.
Who buys large amounts of sunroot?
You responded to a query about eating the rest of the plant by saying “usually one does not”.
Could you please elaborate? Is dangerous, unpleasant, and/or lacking in nutrients?
Or is it simply not practiced due to a cultural biase, as in the way sweet potato greens are often overlooked?
Tough and doesn’t taste good, usually. Abrasive to the skin.
Sounds like a lot of pot greens!
So no known toxicity issue?
As far as taste, boil/wwater changes, brown sugar, frying, salting, pickling, any of these might doctor it up
There are reasons why most parts of plants are not eaten among them are bad flavor and poor texture. Look at it from the plant’s point of view. It wants to collect as much sun as possible to reproduce. It also does not want to be eaten until it has done so. So those other parts usually taste bad or are toxic to keep things from eating it while it gets on with the business of reproducing. One is usually better off sticking with the known edible parts.
Just a little correction….they grow all over New Mexico …I am eating one right now that was grown here 🙂
ok,,my brother-in-law is convinced there is BIG profit to be made growing and harvesting j.a.. I am skeptical, ,he wants to find large plots of these to harvest in michigan and is willing to pay,
he says there is an association of “farmers” to do this. Does anyone know of anything like this or has heard of anything remotely like this??
There is no BIG market for them because although they are pleasant tasting and abundant, most people learn real fast not to eat too many or too often because they cause severe intestinal gas. The inulin can’t be digested so it ferments. Do not feed it to little kids unless you want to be up all night with colicking young’ns. I have not heard of any method of preparation that will make the inulin more digestible to humans. The crunchy mildly sweet tubers are best used in moderation diced or slivered into salads. Pig out on a big serving of them like they were mashed potatoes and you will regret. Someplace on Mr. Deane’s site it mentions that native people didn’t eat big portions of just one veggie, but little quantities of a variety-whatever was around to be foraged that day. This avoids problems with a lot of stuff that could be mildly toxic in quantity but is perfectly nutritious in moderation. Sunchokes are very easy to grow; plant them once and you have them for life.
Apparently cooking slowly for 12 hours or harvesting after a few frosts, or simply waiting until immediately after the ground thaws in the Spring negates the inulin.
Its high heat or cold that somehow converts the inulin into sugar or fructose .
For what it’s worth.
Inulin is becoming BIG since it feeds the gut bacteria, producing butyrate and other really beneficial substances. Might be worth your while to grow and sell. Combine with probiotics for best results.
I don’t have a broad experience, but a few times I have soaked the Sliced tubers in a solution of Baking soda (a heaping Tablespoon/quart of water), about half an hour before cooking, usually frying them like chips. As with beans and turnips, that seems to reduce the Flatulence. More research/trials are needed.
Oh, and something else. How to get Protein from your artichokes.
I have friends who raise chickens, ducks, geese. For the past few years, they drop by in the late summer just as the yellow Artichoke flowers develop to “harvest” the 8-10 ft tall stalks leaves and young flowers. They get over a pick-up load from my two ~4×12 ft JA patches, which feeds their chickens for days.
So I trade pretty yellow flowers and green leaves for green (Araucana) and duck eggs with pretty yellow centers… works for me. And the birds seem overjoyed.
Thanks Green Dean for all the responses I learned a lot.
A Southern Vermonter myself and sunchokes are easy to find here near any river or stream especially. I have not tried them yet but plan to this year for groundnuts are my favorite tuber so far. Thanks for your shows Green Deane!
I’ve got some that lay near the surface for a while and turned green. Is there any problem with eating green gerisole tubers like with white potatoes?
No, greenish JA are okay.
For what it is worth, I do grow Jerusalem Artichokes and harvest the roots. The tall plants bloom beautifully in the fall. The only use for the leaves is that my dog eats them as a purgative, her own choosing. I take the spent stalks and leaves and place them into my compost. Voila!
The Jerusalem artichoke was taken to France in 1605 by the pilgrim Champlain and by the center of the seventeenth century it was generally utilized there both for a creature and human nourishment. You can cook Jerusalem artichokes in an indistinguishable course from a potato, bubbling, steaming, broiling and heating them. I adore them in hot dishes with either meat or chicken.
I wanted to know if you could take the leaves clean them dry them and deep fat fry them in a batter for turmeric traits?
I did an experiment and found that if a person eats a little bit of Jerusalem artichoke each day or every other day for 3-4 times, building up the quantity, the flatulence issue will subside. The body only needs to become accustom to the tuber, then one can enjoy them regularly without distress. I have read that the flavor improves after a frost in the garden. I grow them in a barrel and get a nice harvest each year. We love them and prepare them several ways.
@Celine, I believe you are correct on “getting used to” the inulin. Here is something that I didn’t see mentioned here about JA: The inluin is a pre-biotic; meaning that it feeds the good bacteria that is present in your intestines This good bacteria then causes bad organisms to die off; hence the gas. It makes sense, then, that if we continue to eat Sunchokes, we build our good bacteria. Our guts contain 70-90% of our immune system, so, getting used to eating Jerusalem artichokes means that we are strengthening our immune systems! Yay!
Are the young stalks of Jerusalem Artichokes ediable?
Hi. I need some help. We planted some sunchokes in spring in raised bed using pieces of purchased tubers cut with “eyes” like you would potatoes. They grew up big beautiful plants with the yellow flowers. I’m in Texas and it’s end of September and several of them have died back completely. I pulled up a couple of dead ones and big roots but no tuber at all. I had understood that frost would cause them to die back and then I could start to harvest. Any idea what’s going on?
That’s really interesting. Did you figure out what was going on there?
Can anyone tell me if the leaves and flowers are edible. In all my search I have only found references to Native Americans making tea with them but no real information. My computer is down and phone searches take me in circles. This chat is the most I have found but still focuses only on the tubers.
They have an awful texture and the taste is not pleasing. I doubt they are toxic but I think they would be a famine food at best.
We have grown them in Utah for years and enjoy them raw or cooked. Our chickens don’t eat them very well but our rabbits love the tubers. We usually give them each one per day during the winter. I am researching uses for the leaves and have seen comments that you can dry the young leaves and then powder them in the blender to add to any greens powder mix that you might make. In powdered form you could add a little to sauces, baked goods, smoothies, etc to add an extra bit of nutrition.