Last night, one of my best friends in the world and her boyfriend cooked dinner for me. It was a magical experience just being nourished and cared for by my friend (cooking is definitely one of my love languages), and one of the veggies, I had never tried before. SUNCHOKES! What is a sunchoke!? Well, turns out sunchokes are a pretty crazy type of root vegetable. They LOOK like fresh ginger, originally go by the name Jerusalem Artichoke, and they're a species of SUNFLOWER! They taste a bit like a nutty, tangy potato. By the way, sunchokes have nothing to do with Jerusalem or artichokes, and the name "Sunchoke" was made up in the 1960s by a wholesale produce distributor. Sunchokes are often eaten as a substiute for potatoes, and have a similar consistency, but the carbohydrates in sunchokes come in the form of inulin, which is is a prebiotic fiber that helps nourish beneficial bacteria in the gut and can be helpful in regulating blood sugar. For this reason, it's reported that it can be a good potato substitute for diabetics.
Others love to snack crispy sunchoke chips. Our favorite recipe is our presented oven roasted sunroot. We love the "sunflower artichokes" also as the main dish combined in a nutrient-dense casserole or gratin. Great raw food Did you know that you can eat Jerusalem artichoke tubers also uncooked, for example in a raw veggie salad or vegetable carpaccio? In that case, it's best to use only small tubers (about the size of a golf ball or smaller). These are juicy and come with a tender texture. When eating them raw, the crunchiness will remind you a bit of snacking kohlrabi or radish. Whether raw or cooked, I recommend eating this winter vegetable as fresh as possible, because when cut, it turns brown after a few minutes. To prevent coloring, I often add some small lemon chunks to the mixture before baking. Print Simple oven roasted sunchoke recipe a yummy, filling and super easy side dish Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 45 minutes Total Time: 55 minutes Category: Dinner Method: bake Cuisine: German 800 grams cleaned sunchokes, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces 1 tablespoon olive oil or organic canola oil 1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped ¾ teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon smoked red pepper 1/2 organic lemon in small chunks (optional) Heat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
In Enduring Seeds, Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Preservation, the author Gary Paul Nabhan describe the connection between protecting native culture itself along with native agrobiodiversity as the two are intimately intertwined. He makes the case that protecting native food and its genetic diversity is critical to ensuring the future safety of food. He writes "locally adapted cultivated plants…represent distinctive plant populations, adapted over centuries to specific microclimates and soils. They have also been selected to fit certain ethnic agricultural conditions; the field design, densities, and crop mixes in which they have been consistently grown. The aesthetic selection has also taken place, with the taste, color, and culinary preferences of a particular culture have favored the forms and chemical characters of some plants over others. " In urging protection of native crops, Nabhan notes 'one can hardly create a dune-shaped Hopi crop in a lab overnight. A biotechnologist can't simply transfer one or two genes from variety A to variety B to get the same adaptive qualities' (Nabhan, p. 72).
Sunchokes (AKA Jerusalem artichokes) are gaining popularity for their health benefits. Learn how to grow sunchokes, when to harvest and how to use them – plus the big mistake that we made when we first planted them. What are sunchokes? Sunchokes are native to eastern North America. They are also known as Jerusalem Artichokes or Sunroots. They are not related to Artichokes, but they are related to sunflowers. The whole "Jerusalem" thing is supposedly linked to the Italian word girasola, which means sunflower. Sunchokes are a perennial plant that grows six to ten feet tall. While they do have pretty yellow flowers, they are grown for their edible roots. Their roots are high in inulin (more on that below), and can be used raw or cooked. Historically, sunchokes have been a valuable food source in Native American culture, especially during late winter when storage runs low and spring crops are not yet available. (See Full Moon Feast for more on yearly eating cycles. ) How do you Grow Sunchokes?
Read More: Sunchokes Regulate Blood Sugar Read More: Health Benefits of Inulin "The most valuable attribute of sunchokes is that they are an exceptional prebiotic. The health benefits of probiotics are well publicized, but it's only recently that the importance of prebiotics has been recognized. A prebiotic is a type of nondigestible fiber found in specific foods such as sunchokes, artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions, chicory root, burdock root, dandelion root, plantain bananas, whole wheat, rye, and barley. Prebiotic foods encourage the growth and activity of beneficial microbes in the intestinal tract, thereby promoting overall good health. " -Donnie Yance, Herbalist/Nutritionist Read More: Sunchokes: A Humble Food With Many Health Benefits How To Cook Sunchokes You can roast or sauté sunchokes just as you would potatoes or other root vegetables. The photo above is roasted sunchokes. Last night, we sautéed them in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper, similarly to diced potatoes, cut up like the photo above, until browned and fork-tender.