Have You Ever Eaten Sunchokes / Jerusalem Artichokes?

Sunchokes are native to North America. This is a photo of the flowers.

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh found Native American Indians cultivating tubers in what is now Virginia. The American Indians called them "sunroots."

In the early 1600s, the explorer Samuel de Champlain first saw sunchokes growing in what is now Massachusetts and brought them to Europe.  Champlain thought the sunchokes tasted like artichokes.

Sunchokes were eaten by the explorers Lewis and Clark during a time when they could find little food on their expedition.

During a famine throughout Europe in 1772, the sunchoke was quickly grown to prevent starvation.

During World War II, sunchokes and rutabagas were the most common vegetables available. In some countries, you could buy sunchokes without a ration card.

 ~~ Why are sunchokes also called Jerusalem artichokes? ~~

No one knows for sure, but the Italian word "girasola" means "turning toward the sun," a reference to the sunflower. "Girasola" may have later become pronounced as "Jerusalem" and then "artichoke" refers to Champlain's description of its flavor.

I haven't been able to find where the word "sunchoke" came from and why it's used rather than the American Indian word "sunroot." 

photo by Luigi FDV on flickr

Sunchokes can be grown throughout the United States, but they don't grow as well in very hot climates or in ground that is acidic or stays wet most of the time. 

Plant tubers from late January to mid-April, making sure they haven't dried out before you plant them. The plants can grow up to 10 feet tall so they can be used as a windbreak or to hide a fence or eyesore.  But consider what else you're going to plant nearby because sunchokes will create a large area of shade.

Plant each tuber about 6 inches deep and about 2 feet apart.  If your tubers are small, plant two or three together.  If you plant more than one row, place the rows 3-5 feet apart.  

CAUTION:  Sunchoke tubers spread!  Plant them far enough away from the rest of your garden so they don't take over, or else create a root barrier around them.  You'll want wood pieces or metal sheeting placed vertically around the garden, about a foot deep. You can also plant tubers in large pots, staking the stalks as they grow tall.

Keep the weeds out at first, but once the sunchokes begin to grow tall, they'll shade the ground and keep out the weeds.  Occasionally check on the plants to see if more dirt needs to be added because tubers should not be exposed to light.  

 Photo from Wikipedia

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I found sunchoke tubers for sale on Local Harvest.com and I've seen some on ebay.  If you buy any at a grocery store or Farmer's Market, you can plant them, too, but make sure they're fresh and haven't  gotten shriveled or hard.  

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You can harvest your tubers in the fall after the plant tops are dead, or leave them in the ground over winter and dig them up in the spring.  If you leave them over the winter, put a thick layer of mulch over them.

When you cut your plants down, leave part of the stalk in the ground so you'll remember when each plant is.  Although it's best to only dig up what you can eat in a few days, you can harvest all the tubers if you store them in a cool area and keep them covered in soil so no light reaches them.

To dig your tubers, use a spade or pitchfork to dig a circle around each plant.  The tubers are close to the surface and have fragile skins, so be careful where you dig.  

Once you loosen the dirt around a plant, pull on the stalk and you'll see the root ball.  It'll have many tubers attached to it but there will still be smaller tubers left in the ground.  You can leave these tubers to dig up later, but if you leave them in the ground, they'll start growing new plants in the spring.

If you have a compost pile, you can put the stalks in it but make sure you don't add any tubers. They'll start growing in the spring; even a cut piece from a sunchoke tuber will grow into a plant.

 photo from flickr creative commons