Jumped-Up
Jerusalem Artichokes

By Audrey Stallsmith

The Ordnance man is a son of a gun and his lists are a standing joke;
You order "Choke arti Jerusalem one" for Jerusalem artichoke.

"The Army Mules" by Andrew Barton Paterson

I received seeds for Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) in a trade last year and am debating whether or not I should plant them, since they reportedly can be invasive.  Also known as sunchokes or sunroots, they actually are a type of wild sunflower which can grow to 10 feet tall, producing blooms 2 to 4 inches across and knobby, edible tubers about 3 to 4 inches long.

Dad tells me that we used to have a patch of those artichokes not far from the rhubarb bed, but the pigs liked them so much that they would head over there every time they succeeded in escaping from the barn.  They must eventually have eradicated every last bit of tuber—quite a feat in itself!

Despite their name, the plants aren’t native to Jerusalem but to our own North America, where they first were cultivated by Native Americans.  The reference to the Holy Land probably actually was a corruption of the Italian designation for the plant Girasola articiocco.  That could be where the second part of their name came in too, since the sunflower actually isn’t closely related to the green thistle-like vegetable more commonly known as “artichoke.” 

Although often cooked like potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes have a sweeter, nuttier flavor than those South American tubers do.  Because they contain inulin—no, not insulin!—instead of starch, they sometimes are recommended for diabetics, because inulin converts to fructose rather than sucrose. 

However, human stomachs can have problems with that conversion.  John Goodyer, one of the earliest European botanists to try Jerusalem artichokes, concluded that “which way so ever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented.”

On the up side, inulin is supposed to feed the good bacteria in the stomach, so Jerusalem artichokes actually could improve your digestion—eventually!  They also are high in potassium and iron and are supposed to help balance blood sugar.  An extract made from the plants’ leaves often is recommended for lowering cholesterol. 

The plants bloom in late summer and early autumn, and their tubers can be lifted a couple weeks after the flowers fade. But it might be best to wait until their foliage dies back, as you would for potatoes.  If those tubers aren’t harvested, the perennial plants eventually will grow too thickly and should be divided at least once every three years.

Even if you don’t like the taste of the tubers, your wild birds should love the seeds. Although smaller than those of showier sunflowers, they still are sunflower seeds!

 

The Helianthus tuberosus image is by M. E. Eaton from Addisonia, Vol. 11, courtesy of plantillustrations.org.