[Garden-Cook-Event] – Sunchokes

It’s pretty easy if you want to join:

1. You can submit your entries any time between 01. und 30. of November.
2. Deadline for submissions being posted is the last day of the month 12:00 pm UTC
3. The poll will be available 01.12. 12:00 am UTC ’till 03.12 12:00 am UTC
4. The winner will be announced in the late evening of 03.12.
5. The new theme will be announced at 04.12.

How to submit?

Simply post a recipe with sunchokes between now and 30th of November on your blog. Leave a trackback or comment to this post or mail to gartenkochevent AT paulchens.org with your name, your blogs name and your entry URL.

For any further questions please take a look at the FAQ, leave a comment below or mail to gartenkochevent AT paulchens.org

A sunchoke is an underground vegetable like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut. Also called a Jerusalem artichoke, it is not like an artichoke bloom, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. It’s one of the few native tubers of North America. A sunchoke, related to the sunflower, makes a delicious addition to salad, salsa, marinade, and soup.

Native Americans enjoyed digging up and eating sunchokes for centuries before the colonialists settled. Myths about the dangers of this starchy tuber kept Europeans for cultivating them until the threat was proved superstitious and they embraced the tasty vegetable. The sunchoke got its new name when a French explorer sent some plants back to his friend in Italy to cultivate in the Mediterranean climate. Thinking they tasted like artichokes, the Italian named the tuber “girasole articicco,” meaning, “sunflower artichoke.” Americans corrupted the pronunciation, which they thought sounded more like “Jerusalem,” but the name stuck.

The actual plant, Helianthus tuberosus, looks like a miniature sunflower related to asters, with bright yellow flowers. They’re so easy to grow throughout North America that many gardeners consider them invasive weeds, like black-eyed Susan’s. During spring, before the plant has blossomed, you harvest the sunchokes by digging up the white, bulbous root growths. The plant stores glucose as starch for extra energy during winter months in its tubers. If you’re choosing a sunchoke at the grocer’s, find ones that are moist and smooth, not dry or wrinkled. Treat them like you would ginger root. They’ll keep, refrigerated, for about a week.

source:wisegeek