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Sunchokes shine straight from the garden
• by Pat Eby - Photo by Pat Eby
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Imagine a field of multibranching sunflowers, bright as butterscotch, drowsing in the September sun. In the ground below, Helianthus tuberosus, the sunchoke, also known as the Jerusalem artichoke, grows sweet as the days shorten. It is neither an artichoke, nor from Jerusalem, but is a root vegetable, similar in texture to jícama or water chestnuts.
Sunchokes look a bit like ginger root. Raw, sunchokes are perfect for salads and snacking, with a crisp texture and sweet, nutty flavor. Cooked, sunchokes are sometimes used as a potato substitute. They purée to a velvety smoothness for soups. Roasted, their nutty flavor intensifies and blends well with other fall vegetables.
At the Maplewood Farmers’ Market, Brett Palmier of Biver Farms held a small sunchoke, turning it in his hand. “Sixteen inches down on rain and none in sight,” he said. “These sunchokes are small, but they still have some growing to do. If it rains, we’ll have plenty to sell. If it doesn’t …” His voice trailed off.
A customer asked if he was holding fresh ginger. “No,” he said, “this is a little Jerusalem artichoke, known as a sunchoke.” His enthusiastic description persuaded the customer to try them. “Just steam them, add a little olive oil, salt and pepper,” he advised.
Kate Theis was the only shopper to recognize sunchokes at the Biver Farms stand. “I inherited sunchokes,” the Dogtown resident said. “They came with my yard.” Theis likes to eat them fresh from the garden, out of hand. She keeps a sharp knife when she harvests sunchokes to “pull, peel and eat them” right from the ground.
Even with the drought, Palmier will have sunchokes, but maybe not in the quantity of past years. “We’ll have them at the markets, and for our CSA [consumer-supported agriculture] customers, starting in September,” he said.
Palmier likes the gaudy Helianthus tuberosus both for its sunny flowers and good eating, but he respects its reputation as an invasive species and plants accordingly. “No way these are getting loose in my fields.” Rather, he grows them in plain sight of the main packing house on the farm. “No ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for sunchokes,” he said.
Home growers, take note: “If you grow sunchokes, or any invasive, be sure to be very, very careful,” said Valerie Vartanian, from the Nature Conservancy’s Global Invasive Species Initiative at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The plants reproduce both from seed and from tubers. “Harvest the tubers,” she said. “Ideally, plant them in containers, or raised beds, so the tubers can’t get away.” She recommended cutting the flowers before they go to seed. “Like any invasive, securely wrap the flower heads so the seed doesn’t get loose in a landfill. Throw them in the trash, not the compost pile.”
Don’t leave them for the compost pile. My guess is you won’t have any trouble enjoying this unusual vegetable.
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How to choose sunchokes
• Look for firm tubers with no visible bruises or cuts.
• Avoid tubers with shriveled skins or sprouts.
• Light brown skins tinged red or yellow are good – think the color of ginger roots with a bit of variation.
• Greenish color on the surface is bad – or in the flesh, for that matter.
• Tubers vary in diameter and length, but generally they’re on the small side – 4 to 6 inches in length and less than 2 inches in diameter.
• The tubers cannot help being knobby – but some varieties are less knobby than others, so don’t judge a tuber by its contours alone.
How to use sunchokes
Sunchokes offer unlimited opportunities for eating – appetizers, snacks, salads, soups, as a side vegetable or as a potato substitute. Raw sunchokes slice, dice, shred and still keep their shape for salads. Steamed, baked, boiled, broiled or grilled, earthy sunchokes shine. Here are a few tips for handling them:
• Store unwashed sunchokes in the crisper bin of the refrigerator, wrapped loosely in paper towels, for one to two weeks.
• Sunchokes only need a light scrub with a vegetable brush as the skin is sweet and edible.
• If you must peel, use a gentle touch with the vegetable peeler. Sometimes, knocking protruding knobs off the tuber makes peeling easier.
• Cook first, peel later is also an option to make removing skins easier, like potatoes or beets, except the skins don’t slip easily. You have to coax them with the peeler, but they offer less resistance.
• Like potatoes, sunchokes turn color when exposed to air. Toss with acidulated water (1 to 2 cups cold water, 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice) when serving sunchokes raw for appetizers, snacks or salads.
• A dash of vinegar, lemon or cream of tartar added to cooking water can help prevent turning for steamed or boiled sunchokes.
• Sunchokes steam in less time than potatoes – seven to 15 minutes or less. Boiled, they cook in six to 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat as soon as you can pierce the skin easily with a knife. Overcooked sunchokes will turn mushy.
• Use sunchokes in roasted vegetable combinations with winter squash, sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips and rutabagas, but add them to the pan in the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Battered, Pan-Fried Sunchokes
Courtesy of Our Garden’s Annette Beach
Yield: 6 servings
2 cups water, divided
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 lbs. sunchokes
1 cup powdered milk
3/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp. Vegetable Blend Herb Seasoning from Our Garden**
Olive oil*
• Mix the lemon juice and 1 cup water in a bowl. Set aside.
• Wash, peel (or not) and slice the sunchokes 1/4 inch thick, lengthwise. Place them in a bowl with lemon water until ready to cook.
• Mix the milk, the remaining 1 cup water, flour, salt, pepper and seasonings with a spoon or a spatula. (The batter will not be thick.)
• Put the olive oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in an 8-inch frying pan and heat.
• Dry a small quantity of sunchokes on a paper towel, batter and fry them until golden-brown, turning once.
*Olive oil may be mixed half and half with vegetable oil or canola oil.
**Or another seasoning blend of your choice
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