Growing Jerusalem Artichokes

The "Jerusalem Artichoke" is neither an artichoke nor does it originate in Jerusalem.
It's Latin name is (Helianthus tuberosus) and it is a relative of the sunflower. It is a robust plant, growing to a height of more than two meters. Their leaves are rough to the touch, but are narrower and more pointy than the sunflower's. They form tubers and that is why it is grown.

PLANTING: Plant new tubers in the spring. Plant them about 10cm deep and space them about 35cm-50cm apart...or in a "stand". You may need bamboo canes to support their great height as they will blow-over with strong winds.
This plant does well in poor soil but with a little fertilizing the harvest will be increased.
The Jerusalem Artichoke doesn't require anything further...only that the ground must not be too moist.

HARVESTING: Generally, one can harvest the tubers from after the first frost until March. You can harvest these throughout the whole winter, but I believe that it is best to leave the tubers in the ground and just simply harvest them as you need them throughout the winter. I say this because they have the tendency to dry-out quickly, and this has an adverse effect upon their flavour.

PROPAGATING: You can simply plant the smaller tuners that you have harvested. However, if you do not have enough tubers, you can cut the tubers into pieces (ideally with three "eyes") and plant those.
***I must say here that it is true, that if you leave bits in the ground during the harvesting, they may well produce plants.
You can leave tubers in the ground on purpose so that next year you will have plants without having to plant any new tubers; however, it has been shown that your yield will be of an inferior quality--the tubers will be fewer and smaller.

We were offered some from an allotmenteer up the way. They were growing outside his fence and he was cleaning-up.
It's cheating to harvest them so early, but I felt like eating some. All the literature was right, they have little taste when harvested too early.

Here's how we prepared them:

I washed and cleaned them.
Cut them into discs and boiled them for about 5 minutes.
Drained the water and fried them in butter and garlic.
I found that what flavour they had was sort of "artichokey"...or "smokey". Later after the frosting they will be slightly sweet.
I will try them again during the cold days of winter.

And now a few pics--
The plants

Their flowers

Uprooted stalks

Tubers brought to the surface

Washed and brushed--drying on the sidewalk

Slced tubers ready to be boiled

Served with a stir fry

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html

What a nice reaction from you folks.
BIITA..the tubers will stay intact to temps of -31°F

Some of you expressed a wish to try them sometime. I think that it is one ofthe easiest plants to grow that there is. Basically you plant the tubers and forget them unless you get drought conditions.
That was the "upside". The downside is that they can be difficult to get rid of and quite invasive...so I would suggest containing the roots somehow if you decide to grow them for fun or food. You must be very thoroiugh in removing roots and tubers when you are through experimenting with this plant.

The plant does have some redeaming qualities in terms of nutrician and in fact it is excellent for diabetics as it contains a sort of polysaccaride.
But that's another subject.

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html