Perfect Winter Harvest

Have you ever heard of Jerusalem Artichokes? Perhaps you've seen them as "sunchokes," sold in the supermarket produce section? I'm a big fan of these edible plants, whose roots are harvested in winter months and can be used, raw or cooked, in a variety of recipes.

The Jerusalem Artichokes are not artichokes and do not come from Jerusalem - various theories exist for how they were named. They the swollen roots, called tubers, of "Helianthus tuberoses," a perennial flowering plant of the sunflower/aster family, which often grow in the wild. They look a lot like ginger roots. During the warm months, these tubers supply the nutrients for the growth of tall stiff leafy stalks, 7 feet or taller, which are topped with a profusion of 3" yellow daisy-type flowers in the fall. As the flowers fade and the stalks and leaves die back, the plant's energies go back into the roots, and the tubers begin to grow again.

AS A FOOD:
Jerusalem Artichoke tubers are dug from November thru early March here in Tennessee, just harvesting as many as you want for immediate use, and leaving the rest in the ground for subsequent harvests. I'll be honest - these are not for those of you who hate to get your hands dirty… literally and figuratively. If you've ever dug and cleaned fresh potatoes, you know there is some work involved. Even though they can be used like potatoes, I wouldn't attempt to prepare a big casserole of Jerusalem Artichokes for a crowd... too much work. But as an addition to other foods, they are perfect.

To prepare for eating, the harvested Jerusalem Artichoke roots are washed and scrubbed to remove the dirt, like other root crops. The skin is golden, and the inside is white. The thin skin can be peeled with a vegetable peeler, but it sort of scrubs off while cleaning. I prefer to hose the tubers off after digging, soak briefly in a bowl of water to loosen the remaining dirt, then scrub with a vegetable brush (the kind like a fingernail scrubbing brush).

The tubers can be:

Freshly dug tubers, not yet washed.

• Eaten raw - with a texture and crunch similar to water chestnuts; added to salads and dips
• Cooked - prepared in many ways as you would use potatoes (baked, boiled, stewed, fried, etc.)
• Sliced - for quick stir-fry type cooking
• Dehydrated
• Dried and ground into flour
• Pickled

Loose soil hosed off.

Scrubbed, ready to cut up and add to a beef stew.

They have a slight sweetness, particularly if harvested late in their season, but otherwise don't have a strong flavor. When using them raw, air will darken them just as with apple slices, so cut when ready to use, or cut and dip them in water with a small amount lemon juice, vinegar, or some other acid added. If you are storing the tubers, it is best to wash them, then place in them a zip bag in the refrigerator; the moisture helps keep them fresh. Use within a week. They cannot be stored like potatoes or they will dry up and shrivel.

USING THEM IN RECIPES

I have used raw Jerusalem Artichokes chopped and stirred into chicken salad for a slight crunch, the same as celery would add. I also slice them thin to mix in a garden salad. Chopped pieces make a good addition to onion dip too. When cooking the tubers, added acid can strengthen the texture, so cut when ready to add to the cooked recipe rather than cutting early and soaking in lemon juice, as when used raw. I have cooked them in a beef stew, cutting into 1" pieces, and adding to a crock pot with onions, carrots, mushrooms, beef and herbs. After hours of cooking, they deliciously absorb the stew flavors. I've also sliced Jerusalem Artichokes and sauteed with onions and kale, as a yummy side dish, and I've used them to make a pureed cheese soup, much like you'd use potatoes. Experiment!

Even if they weren't so good, the fact that Jerusalem Artichokes can be harvested continuously all winter, when so little else is growing in the garden, makes them a valuable food source. In an emergency, when you can't get to the store for produce, they are readily available for your immediate harvesting.

DIABETIC ALTERNATIVE:
After harvesting, the Jerusalem Artichoke's storage carbohydrate is inulin, which is converted to fructose in the digestive tract, as compared with the storage carbohydrate of potatoes - starch, which is converted to glucose in the gut. Thus Jerusalem Artichokes are a better tolerated choice for diabetics.

PLANTING, GROWING & HARVESTING:
My location in Zone 7 is about as far south as Jerusalem Artichokes grow, needing about 125 frost-free days. They are not particularly happy in our slow-draining Tennessee clay soil, so augment the planting bed to improve drainage. I found my three-year old planting bed had spread toward a rock-filled drainage ditch beside the bed, where the drainage was better. Planting in spring is best, and they like slightly alkaline soil and sunshine. Plant pieces of tubers at least 2 ounces, 4-5 inches deep, about 12 inches apart. Chose a location where very tall plants will look nice, and plant them where they can thrive and spread, year after year. Even if you try to dig all the roots, you will have a hard time eliminating this vigorous crop. Mine sometimes get too tall by midsummer and wind will blow the stalks over, so I cut them down a few feet, sacrificing some of the flowering in later months.
 

Digging tubers in late winter, to share with others for planting.

Dig the tubers beginning in fall, after the plant has died back, and after the first frost. Insert a tined garden fork into the soil under the dried stem, loosening the soil. You'll see the golden tubers scattered amongst the dirt, all at about the same depth. Pieces will vary from knobby to round, 1-1/2" to 4", and will not have any roots attached to them, so just pull them out of the dirt. In late winter, you'll know it's time to stop harvesting when you see one end of each tuber has started growing a shoot, preparing for the new season's growth.

Gardening Update

This spring weather has been pretty beneficial for gardening - except for 4 inches of rain all at once last Sunday (poor Nashville). I harvested the last of my spinach this week... a cool weather crop, as I wrote previously. It starts to "bolt" - send up flower heads - when it senses several triggers: overcrowding, heat, daylight for 16 hours, less moisture. We've loved eating it raw and cooked, and I had enough to freeze too. I am continuously picking romaine, black-seeded simpson and mesclun lettuce these days too, as well as the scallions from my large planting of onions. I've rooted some sweet potato vines from last years' harvest, both in a jar of water and in loose soil in the cold frame; only two of the five varieties I planted from 2009 have grown: Beauregard (the supermarket favorite) and Hernandez. I'll pull the little slips off the main plant and put them in their permanent garden location early next week. Also, there are flowers on my heirloom "lemon" cucumber plants, as well as on the zucchini.  Late next week, when evening temps should start to stay above 55 degrees, I'll set out the butternut squash, eggplant, and cantaloupe plants I started indoors from seed, as well as various bush beans, sown directly in the garden. I pushed the season on my four varieties of peppers (sweet, pimento, poblano, and jalapeno) and they are growing well now that the weather is warm.

Also now harvesting an oriental veggie called "pak choi" which is like a mini bok choy. I struggle with growing any cabbage family crops organically, since they attract an insect which eats holes in the leaves. Garlic spray and diatomaceous earth slow down the damage, but don't eliminate it. If anyone has a suggestion, please let me know. Still, I prefer a few holes in the leaves to toxic pesticide use. Perhaps the pak choi will be a better fall crop, when there are fewer bugs.

I took the "kozy coats" off the tomato plants, since our temperatures are into the 80s under full sun this week. I had one plant in the ground without a kozy coat. It is very healthy and growing well, but it is only 1/2 the height of those with the kozy coat, so I guess this is a worthwhile tool. I've kept the coats on the eggplant and jalapeno which I've already planted, since they love heat.

My garlic, planted last fall as individual bulbs, are so large that the stalks look like dwarf cornstalks! A few started to send up a flower head, so I pinched them off at the bottom of the stem. I broke the stems into 3" pieces and scattered them around the young cucumber and zucchini plants to ward off pests.

I picked about a pint of strawberries for the last two days, from my everbearing and June-bearing plants. Not only do they taste wonderful, but they even smell great... unlike the tasteless ones from the supermarket.

Last note on harvesting: Few people notice the Red Bud tree once its magnificent show of blossoms is over, shown at its height in the photo above. Those beautiful flowers of  early spring here have now turned into 3" long green edible pods! I've tried eating them - not as tasty as pea pods, but certainly a good source of emergency food. Picked young, like they are now, they cook up very tender and crunchy in a stir fry. And they are enormously plentiful, if you can reach the branches! You can see the heart shape of the leaves in the photo of the pods, to help you identify it properly.

Enjoy the bounty of springtime.