First Impressions
A steak sandwich. This
would be amazing on a steak sandwich.
This thought ran through my head as I tasted my first bite
of Ms. Zacki’s Jerusalem artichoke relish. The relish was crunchy, sweet, and
unlike anything else I had ever eaten. My previous idea of relish was the soggy
green topping on a hot dog at an Orioles’ game; this Jerusalem artichoke relish
bore no resemblance to its pickle-based cousin. I could have eaten Ms. Zacki’s
relish with a spoon for lunch, it was that good. I could imagine it slathered
on top of thinly-sliced, peppered steak, jammed between two slices of toasted
whole wheat bread.
But perhaps it tasted so delicious because I had been
waiting so long for a Jerusalem artichoke. When I was first assigned to write
this blog article, I bounced between grocery stores, searching for the tuber.
Trips to Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, and a farmer’s market proved
fruitless. These frustrated ventures led me to Google: Was the Jerusalem
artichoke even in season? And from there I discovered the fascinating history
of the tuber.
What’s in a Name?
Have you ever played the game Telephone? Perhaps when you
were younger -- at a birthday party, maybe – a friend would whisper a phrase
into the ear of the person to her left, who would then whisper it to the next
person, and the cycle would repeat until the phrase reached the last person. At
this point the phrase would be contorted as each person misheard the phrase; by
the end of the game it was nothing like the original sentence. This is similar
to how the Jerusalem artichoke earned its name. The tuber is neither an
artichoke nor from Jerusalem – so how did it acquire such a misleading moniker?
Samuel de Champlain, an explorer in the Americas, began the
game of Telephone. He first tasted the Jerusalem artichoke (also known as the
sunchoke) in Massachusetts and compared the taste to artichokes he ate in his
native France. When the French began growing the tubers themselves, they agreed
with de Champlain that the tubers resembled artichokes. They continued to call
them artichokes, even though they are actually a member of the sunflower
family.
Furthermore, the sunchokes do not originate from Jerusalem.
The tubers were first cultivated in eastern North America and traded between
tribes. European exploration in the New World brought the tubers over to Europe
in the 1600s. Here they became a popular crop because they are inexpensive,
easy to grow, and nutritious.
The Italian settlers in North America helped bring the
sunchoke to Europe, but also helped it earn the “Jerusalem” part of its name.
The Italians called the tuber girasole, the
Italian word for sunflower, because the top of the plant resembled a sunflower.
In another game of Telephone, girasole was
corrupted into Jerusalem. Henceforth,
the tuber became known as the Jerusalem artichoke.
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Delicious and
Nutritious
The Jerusalem artichoke is highly nutritious. Despite
frequent comparisons to potatoes, the sunchoke contains little starch. The
carbohydrates it does contain come in the form of inulin. Inulin is a polymer
that can be converted into fructose, giving the sunchoke a sweeter taste than
the potato and making it a great choice for diabetics. (People suffering from
type 2 diabetes tolerate fructose better than sucrose or other forms of sugar.)
The sunchoke is as versatile as it is nutritious. A quick scour of the Internet
revealed numerous recipes for preparing the tuber.
I wish the grocery stores around me currently carried
Jerusalem artichokes so I could try roasting, stir-frying, blending, and making
Paleo “fries” out of them. Many recipes simply involve dicing the tuber,
tossing it with olive oil, shaking with a series of spices, and roasting for
about half an hour. This method is a classic for all manners of vegetables; the
Jerusalem artichoke is no exception.
Sowing the Seeds of
Your Sunchokes
For a rewarding experience, grow your own Jerusalem
artichokes! Grab your trellis and sunhat and make your way to the garden. Dig
small holes about three or four inches deep. Drop small tubers into the holes
and bury them; keep them watered and prepare to reap the rewards. Plant them in
the spring. According to Ms. Zacki’s gardening expertise, the tubers will
sprout upwards first, toward the sun, as the Italians first noticed when they
named the plant girasole. The top of
the plant will bloom into a sunflower as the tubers grow sideways underground.
Harvest the sprouted tubers in fall and early winter. I helped Ms. Zacki plant
some Jerusalem artichokes in Ms. Zacki’s garden; I can’t wait to reap the
rewards this fall.
