Jerusalem Artichokes – They’re not even Jewish!
Last year we got some Jerusalem artichoke plants. Four innocuous little plants in small innocuous little pots. We planted them, excited about the idea of growing them and having such an exotic vegetable in the foreseeable future. Fast forward one year. Last years crop had grown, then grown, then grown some more and we were delighted when atop these wonderful eight foot plants was a lovely hand-sized sunflower, sort of like a happy star atop a Christmas tree. But doing as were instructed, when the flower died off we dug up the plant and gathered several large bags of the root vegies growing underneath. Much flatulence later these vegies had their own brand of gas named after them – artichoke gas. The following year, we didn’t have four plants. We had forty. We had bags of these gas producing beasts to last us and our friends and neighbours for so many months that I gave a bag full to a visiting Jehovah’s witness, sending her off on her merry way with a gift (I did tell her what they’d do but she was willing to dare it).
Those Jerusalem artichokes are not what they seem. They aren’t Jewish. They aren’t even artichokes and they are only 50% digestible. In fact they are members of the sunflower family. The only good news is if you nuke them in a microwave for 20 mins on high you can reduce the associated flatulence to that of the humble baked bean by helping to break down the indigestible inulin of these devious little beasties. And whilst they look like a ginger, they in fact have a taste more akin to a cross between a squash and a parsnip. They are the perplexing vegetable enigma equivalent to what the platypus is to the animal kingdom.
… Donna Williams
author, artist, eater of artichokes.
but you haven’t really said whether you liked them or not…….or did you, and I just didn’t get it by reading between the lines?
Flatulence……..heehee………that sort of thing makes me laugh and laugh…….as does belching. Sadly, the first, I cannot force myself to do, but the latter……..oh yes. I have put many of my much larger male friends to shame.
AI
Actually, I love them. They are great roasted. People also mash them, make soup from them, some eat them raw! I know a woman feeds them to her dog (don’t know if I’d recommend that but the dog chose to eat them).
I have never tried artichokes at all. Do you have any good artichoke recipes?
I like (but I have only had them rarely) Asparagus, which also has a complex flavour and are good in soup. Continuing the flatulent vegetables topic, nothing beats a warm (it has be home made though) pea and ham soup.
I make up receipes as I go along, I’m afraid. But I suspect a Jerusalem Artichoke soup might go well with some cabbage and leeks – sort of using it as you would potato.
Asparagus is scrummy. I love it when its not too mushy and then rolled in a bit of oil with some iodised salt, garlic and lemon juice.
Pea and ham soup…. yum… anyone Jewish can do pea and lamb… anyone vegitarian can do pea and ………….well…other vegies!
a nice soup is cauliflower and cashew soup… you steam these then stick them in the blender, then make this ‘mash’ into soup – yum.
and pumpkin soup with corriander …. yum.
and clearly I like soup 🙂
When it comes to soup, my Dad is one for improvisation.
His speciality is pea and ham or smokey bacon. My local footballing side, Stalybridge Celtic have been doing home made pea and ham soup for some home games as part of the refreshments, which has gone down well with myself and most of the fans.
Hi Donna. Like you I ‘cook by feel’. I believe that artistic merit in cooking is not in the presentation but in the taste As for soup and artichokes, being a real Jewish girl i do the old chicken soup but also lentil and bacon (for shame!). As for Artichokes, they might have been discovered in Jerusalem but it not a traditional Jewish thing to eat. I was served some a few times in Crete and it was the spiky head you had to peel and suck. Or was that another sort of artichoke?
No, mate, that’s a totally other artichoke, a ‘real’ artichoke. Jerusalem artichokes look like a ginger root. The soup sounds nice… am I invited? Make sure its dairy/gluten free for me, OK? I’ll be on the next plane 😉
The Jerusalem artichokes were neither from Jerusalem nor artichokes… hmm, who knows who started the term. They are part of the sunflower family and the plant is actually a tall sunflower with a single flower on top the size of a hand… very pretty…a ‘happiness’ flower.
🙂
The name is a corruption of some word…I think it is “gisarole” or something similar. Anyway, the word sounds like Jerusalem, and it means “turning to the sun” which the flowers do (like their sunflower relatives.
It’s odd, because the first artichokes I grew didn’t give me any digestive problems and the skin was reddish. The second time around I grew the standard type (light brown skin) and they gave me serious intestinal cramping. I ate them once and didn’t brave them again.
A gisarole… wow, there’s a word… sounds like a ballet dancing beef risole.
🙂 Donna *)
When I was a kid, about 60 years ago, my father grew artichokes – they were delicious. I have only seen them once in the shops and that was about 20 years ago. I found out from my father very late in life that he called them ‘fartichokes’.
Donna,
You are the Best! You wrote hilariously about my exact experience with those pesky Jerusalem artichokes. As my husband used to say, once they get established, “You can’t get rid of them with a blow torch.” I love the image of nuking them for 20 minutes on high just to reduce their potency to that of a baked bean. Whew!
Wonderful vegetable: boiled whole, unpeeled and then mashed. Add generous helping of creamed horseradish, coarse mustard and butter. Enjoy. However……….the following flatulence and pain will probably remove 99% of the remembered pleasure of consumption. Yes – they also go forth and multiply and if they take over your allotment just move onto another one as far away as possible. We ate them yesterday with a venison casserole – 6 hours later we remembered why we had crossed them off our veggie list 20 years ago. Have a go anyway!
ah the pain, yes, I remember it well. Reckon I’ll forget in 20 years too and thing, mmmmm, roasted artichokes, weren’t they wonderful.
🙂 Donna Williams *)
I love these “artichokes” but the flatulence is enough of a problem for both me and my husband that we had just about given up on them.
I decided to try the “nuke them for 20 minutes on high” method, and nearly had a fire in my microwave at 12 minutes. There was smoke billowing out of it, filling the house. The microwave oven and the kitchen still have a terrible smell 2 days later, even after thorough cleaning of the oven and airing out of the kitchen. This is an old microwave so it isn’t that it is more powerful than others ……..
I would advise extreme caution to anyone who attempts this remedy.
I haven’t yet dug up the artichokes, but I fear for my garden. You see, I planted 12 of them. If they multiply like you say, I may be taken over by the “fartichokes”. LOL
It is girasol. Turning to the sun. They didn’t give me wind the first couple of times but they certainly did last time. Bob Flowerdew says you cant get rid of them and they would withstand nuclear war. They are nice and safe in small quantities but so prolific you get tempted to eat too much. Sliced and stir fried they taste and feel like water chestnuts.
I’m a chef who loves them. Roasted with the skins on is the best, but I also boil them & mash with spuds or slice & bake in a gratin with sweet potato & parsnip. Also they make a tasty soup or sauce for pasta. Yes they are definitely fartchokes but that’s part of the fun. I’ve never had pain, bloating or cramping. A keen gardener, I knew not to plant them. Tasty as they are, they’re a good occasional vegie & for this reason I buy them during their short season in Autumn. Enjoy.