PlantFiles: Jerusalem Artichoke, Sunchoke
Helianthus tuberosus

Sunchoke (topinambur) is a prized veggie in France that also grows well near Lake Geneva, Switzerland (climate zone approx. 8b). Planted tubers bought in a supermarket (probably Fuseau) and others bought in a nursery (Sakhalinsky Rouge) in March/April in fertile, unamended but fertilized loam on a south-facing slope with full sun. They are going gangbusters - already 1 1/2 feet high by mid-May. So far, no unmanageable pest problems despite the numerous white grubs and wire worms populating my patch of dirt.

Culinary note: When roasted, sunchokes taste like artichokes; no joke. A tasty but simple feast is easily prepared by cutting potatoes, peeled sunchokes and carrots (country fry wedges), coating them lightly with olive oil and sprinkling them with chopped rosemary (or oregano), salt and pepper, and then popping them in the oven at 200 C on a baking tray for an hour together with a whole chicken (with skin) on a roasting tray coated lightly with olive oil and stuffed with one rosemary sprig (plus a few short sprigs of thyme, if desired), 2 quartered garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, ditto salt and pepper. This recipe is my family's favorite.

Enjoy.

I got this last year in a trade thinking it would be a great food source. It was absolutely beautiful, but got so big it flopped. It was so big it would pull over anything I tried to stake it with. I dug it out and thought I had gotten all of the roots. This year it is coming up all around where I had it. I have sprayed it twice with round up, but it is still determined to come back. Hopefully I can get it under control before time to plant other things. Maybe it would be better behaved in poor soil.

I love this plant. I grow it in a raised bed as part of a chocolate scent garden. The blossoms have a vanilla/chocolate scent. They taste like a combination of potato, carrot, water chestnut; eaten raw or cooked like potatoes.

Bees are the most important pollinators, although the flowers are also visited by bee flies, wasps, beetles, and butterflies. Among the bees, are such visitors as bumblebees, Miner bees, Halictine bees, and Panurgine bees. The flowers are usually cross-pollinated by these insects, and rarely become self-pollinated. The caterpillars of the butterflies Chlosyne nycteis (Silvery Checkerspot) and Chlosyne gorgone (Gorgone Checkerspot) eat the foliage. Similarly, the caterpillars of many moths and other insects feed on various parts of Jerusalem Artichoke, including Pyrrharctia isabella (Isabella Tiger Moth), Papaipoma rigida (Sunflower Borer Moth), Papaipoma rigida (Rigid Sunflower Borer Moth), and Stibadium spumosum (Frothy Moth). Other kinds of insects that feed on this plant include Publilia concava (Treehopper sp., semi-shaded situations), Melanoplus angustipennis (Spur-Throated Grasshopper sp.), and various beetles. The large nutritious seeds are avidly consumed by various upland gamebirds, songbirds, and small mammals (see Wildlife Table). Large herbivores, such as livestock and deer, may eat the leaves and flowers. Occasionally, the stems are used by muskrats and beavers for their dens or dams.

A better name for this sunflower would be 'Indian Potato' because the native people of North America cultivated and ate the edible tubers, which are produced in substantial quantities. These tubers have fewer calories per gram than the familiar 'Irish Potato' (a South American plant), and are better for diabetics because the carbohydrates and sugars are more easily assimilated by the body without insulin. This sunflower can be reliably distinguished from other sunflowers by the winged petioles, which are often ½" or longer on the larger leaves. With the exception of Helianthus annuus (Annual Sunflower), the leaves of Jerusalem Artichoke are wider than other prairie sunflowers in Illinois. It also has stems that are covered with bristly white hairs, unlike Helianthus grosseserratus (Sawtooth Sunflower), which has smooth stems.

I didn't come to Jerusalem artichoke as a gardener -- although I am now interested in that. I looked to add it to my diet because the inulin, whether it helps with diabetes or not, seems clearly to foster the growth of the system's benign bacteria. The system's bacteria grow in an atmosphere of little or no oxygen. They generally grow only inside the system. Yogurt does not provide this type of bacteria, although it does provide types of beneficial bacteria that grow in an environment that has oxygen.

I had a type of deficiency of systemic bacteria.

Eating the Jerusalem artichoke tubers seems to address this deficiency quite well.

FYI, I have so far boiled the tubers like potatoes and I have sauteed them with onion and garlic in olive oil. I then flavor it with soy sauce.

So if they grow to prolifically in your garder, eat 'em up!

It is interesting to see the note on the inulin because just today I was reading Crockett's "Victory Gardening" and it said the same thing about being a good plant for diabetics. Something about the starch in the tuber breaking down into something other than sugar. I love this plant for the tubers. My first experience was about 10 years ago from a friend's garden in Seaford, De. I have not planted any myself as I have heard it is very evasive and I have a small area to grow flowers. Also bought this from the produce section of a supermarket.

This is a great plant for a privacy blind. But do not use it for the back of the border for it will invade the garden. Some Sunchokes in my garden are 11 feet tall so that I have to bend the stem to harvest the 12/15-flower clusters for a field bouquet. Add some lavender Obedience Plant(Physostegia)flowers, white and/or lavender Windflower (Japanese Anemone, some Asters and Goldenrod (Solidago) for a colorful fall bouquet!

I got my starter tubors at a produce stand in the spring and planted 6 or 8 of them out. That was 5 years ago, and have several patches of them (hundreds) that I have to keep from spreading everywhere. Not a hard task at all. Have not killed them all yet, and they are ready to dig and eat for about 5 months of the year (first frost to sprouting time) over fall and winter here in central NJ USA. They are weeds, but wonderful weeds.

I am rather wary of the inulin claims for diabetics. Inulin is used to make food for diabetics, but having inulin does not make the food safe.

Hi! I have not a jerusalem artichoke yet, but I like to have it. Please, may somebody send me plant?

Freshly dug tubers are high in inulin, and are a safe alternative to potaotes in a diabetic diet. As the tubers are stored, the glucose turns into carbohydrates. Fresh tubers produce more gas that storage tubers. Delicious sliced raw in salads, cooked like a potato, or pickled. Tastes somewhat like water chestnuts or jicama. High in iron. Must be stored in a high humidity environment to prevent tubers drying.

This perennial sunflower is a Native to SE US and Canada. It can be seen growing wild in meadows and along roadsides. Plants grow up to 10 feet tall and have course oblong shaped leaves covered with stiff hairs. In late summer it is covered with 4 inch golden yellow daisies. The tuberous rhizomes can be dug in the fall, cooked and eaten like a potato. It spreads rapidly and may be too aggressive for the home garden. Plant it in an area of its own where it can be controlled with the lawn mower