Jerusalem Artichokes
My heavy London clay soil seems to be ideal for these Jerusalem artichokes. It's extremely muddy down on the allotment at the moment so they took quite a bit of scrubbing with the garden hose and a brush to get them clean.
They always seem to be a bit of a fiddle to prepare and cook. Today I roasted some in the oven but the skins were still thick and leathery. Steaming seems to be a better option but still a bit fiddly. Does anyone have any handy hints for preparing artichokes? Whatever it takes, I am a big fan and I adore them!
posted by Matron @ 5:00 PM
10 Comments:
I have never grown jerusalem artichokes so I do not have any advice to offer up.
Oh my, you'll be getting more than a single meal out of those, they're huge ! (What variety, do you know ?)
I've been told they make a great soup. Enjoy !
ooo, nice size tubers Matron. We either fry ours as chips along with a mix of potatoes, or we make them into soup. I was once served them as mash in a restaurant - very tasty.
mc
I just recently found some in the grocery store. It's not common here. I liked it so I will plant it next year.
Here's something I read in a book by Hessayon. The author listed two varieties.
1. Fuseau: Long, white tubers with a far smoother surface than the ordinary variety. Compact plant-only reaching 5-6 feet.
2. Dwarf Sunray: White skin which does not need peeling. Compact growth habit.
I don't know which variety I bought. I'm checking with the store.
Boil them as they are , then you just squeeze the insides out like toothpaste no fussy peeling involved
Don't ever ever ever eat them raw!!! I stupidly believed what I read in a book (duh!!!) and tried wafer thin slices in a salad. The stomach pains lasted more than a week :-O
I dug up the evil tubors and tossed them ceremoniously into the council's compostable waste bin. But, they're back!!! They even flowered this year (quite pretty mini-sunflowers). The memory of my painful digestive tract has faded and I just might tentatively give them another chance.
BTW ours are pinky purple skinned ones and more spherical in shape.
Celia
They make a wonderful substitute for water chestnuts in chinese stir-fry recipes.
'fraid we dug all our up as they gave all 4 of us serious wind problems!!! :)
I have similar soil and when I bought my house there were Jerusalem artichokes everywhere. i actually wanted to eradicate them and was digging them up. A gardener friend came to help me with another project and I asked her if she had seen the Jerusalem artichokes I had dug up. She said yes, she had seen them, cut them up (so there would be more!) and replanted them. arggh!
They make an interesting dauphinoise, peeled, sliced thin and baked in garlicky cream.
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