I’ve started documenting the top flops of the year, so thought I should record some of the successes too. To start, I was thrilled with my first harvest of Jerusalem artichokes.
A third of my harvest for the fridge
After a year’s extensive growing experience (ahem) here are my ten reasons to love them.
1. Good returns
The picture shows about a third of the harvest from one stem – which came to 5.5kg. I was slightly overwhelmed by how much was there and spent lots more time than I’d thought working out how to deal with it all, but I’m not complaining.
There’s nearly two kilos distributed between the fridge and brown paper bags, to be used over the next week, and three more are in a bucket of mud outside the back door. These should last much longer, and will be easy to ‘dig’ in the cold. The rest has already been cooked up with garlic, lemon and parsley, or dehydrated in the oven in response to a sudden compulsion to make artichoke flour. With two more plants still in the ground, there should be more than enough to last two of us through to March.
2. Good returns #2
This harvest was basically free, as I grew my three plants from some (slightly mouldy) pieces I found in the bottom of my veg box at the end of last season. (Obviously not a recommended technique). If I were buying them through the same veg-box scheme now they’d be £3.62/kg.
3. Easy to grow
So, yeah, yeah, grow your own is not ‘free’. What about the labour cost, and all the other inputs like water and compost? There’s lots to say on this argument but here it’s just irrelevant.
I threw my mouldy bits of tuber into a tiny patch of rocky mud by the back fence, and hoped. The only attention they got was five minutes to stake them when they passed eight foot.
4. Perennial
Lots of people complain about the artichoke’s amazing ability to grow from the tiniest bit of tuber left in the soil. You’ll never get rid of them. Well, boo hoo. I’m not complaining about food that does all the work itself and comes back year-after-year, just when you need it most.
5. Good timing
Gardening and blogging have both been put on hold for a few months while I finished some freelance work. So the chard, cavolo nero, winter radish, salad and all the other lovely things I planned to be eating over the winter remain unsown. Perfect then to have the artichoke step up to the plate (pun intended, but probably not excusable), and be willing to hang around until March.
6. Hard to find
While I can normally track some down at a market or through a veg-box scheme, there’s certainly none available in my local shops. And even if there were, a bucket outside the back door is a much nicer way of doing the shopping.
7. Delicious
None of the above would matter much if it wasn’t also delicious.I’m still not persuaded by kohlrabi, and as much as I’d love to see their alien forms land in my garden, everything in my small space really needs to earn its keep. Jerusalem artichoke is sweet and nutty and really versatile – lovely raw, fried, boiled and mashed, roasted, or even dehydrated as I’ve just discovered.
I’ve been drying slices in my oven to grind up for flour. (I’m planning very posh papardelle. Nigel Slater has a lovely recipe with chestnut mushrooms, garlic and parsley, and as these are all good friends of the artichoke, I thought artichoke flour in the pasta would be a fine thing. Results to follow.) The side-effect of this was that I had to keep checking to see if the slices were dry yet, and in doing so found they were rather wonderful on their own. They kept all the jerusalem artichoke flavour and sweetness, and might be the perfect crisp.
8. Good for you
For all their sweetness, artichokes are low in calories. The sugar in the tuber is inulin – polysaccharides of fructose. Fructose has the same sweetness as glucose for less calories, if you’re into that sort of thing. We can’t digest it so it makes little difference to blood sugar, but bacteria in our guts can (yes, the ‘friendly’ type) so it is good if you’re concerned about keeping the little fellows happy.
Which leads to…
9. Entertainment/more for me
Some people don’t get on with this special feature of artichokes, leading to some epic farting. The bacteria give off CO2 and other gases – which has to go somewhere…
Either you can live with it and laugh at any side-effects, or you have to go without. Which means more for me.
Obviously, I never fart.
(My crisps may well be fine for all, as Harold McGee tells me that, if it is cooked at a low temperature for a long time, the inulin breaks down into shorter chains of fructose which our guts can cope with)
10. Delicious
Did I mention that already? Well here it is again, because it’s the most important thing. I’ll be making lots of soup, and finding some nice sausages so I can make Nigel’s Pork Sausages with artichokes and lemon – a lovely easy winter casserole.
December 16, 2009 at 00:42
I am reading blogs in blotanical, and doing picks. I had to comment here, because I so enjoyed reading your post about artichokes. My favorite part was #4. It made me giggle.
I grew Jerusalem artichokes in one of my gardens when I was in my 20s. I don’t remember how far it spread. I remember having trouble deciding when to harvest it. Sometimes we kept it too long, and then it didn’t taste so good. Your post is making me thing about finding a spot for some. And to think yours started from shriveled up tubers!
December 16, 2009 at 21:28
Thanks for visiting, and commenting – it’s lovely to know you enjoyed the post.
I’m hoping the artichokes will be okay to be harvested anytime in the next few months, though the flavour does change – apparently a good dose of cold sweetens them up (though that doesn’t seem to fit with your experience).
December 16, 2009 at 02:40
Excellent, I just knew that someone else out there was appreciating these wonderful tubers.:) I agree with you in that what could possibly be better than a plant that so easily reproduces…boo hoo all the way to my dinner plate.
What a great idea drying them for flour, I will keep that in mind. As always, a most wonderful post.
By the way, yours are much prettier than mine with that reddish hue.
December 16, 2009 at 21:34
I think they’re pretty too. Certainly better looking than when they were planted!
Will let you know how the flour goes. It might just be another one of my incredibly time-consuming, elaborate and totally disappointing experiments. Though not a complete waste of time: on the way I found out how tasty the dehydrated slices were. Definitely recommended … though they might need a more appetising name than ‘dehydrated slices’.
December 16, 2009 at 08:36
Jerusalem artichokes are as close as you can get to growing something from nothing! I started mine from veg box leftovers, too, in freecycled pots filled with homemade compost. They’re not as productive in pots, but there’s still plenty to go around! Let me know how you get on with the flour experiment, it sounds fascinating.
December 16, 2009 at 21:50
Yep, they’re astounding. Also he sort of crop we’ll need more of in the future – easy for novices, good productivity from a small space, useful byproducts etc.
The flour’s ground and smells nice, but I’m yet to cook with it. Will try it and post soon, though anticipating it might be in the top-of-the-flops category.
December 18, 2009 at 17:02
I’ve never grown or eaten Jerusalem Artichokes. I think I might give them a go next year after your rave review.
January 7, 2010 at 19:37
Ooh, you should. Though worth checking you like them first, because you may be stuck with them once they’re in the soil!
December 29, 2009 at 16:29
Hello. Sorry about being so irregular in visiting. Daft, since this is one of my favourite blogs – but I tend to do things in a higgledy piggledy order and am also trying to reduce my blogging and blog-reading because I have other things which are pressing to be done.
I want specially (as well as wishing you a belated Happy Christmas) to thank you for your contributions to my posts about the Copenhagen conference. I’m fascinated when anyone doesn’t think climate change is an absolutely major issue and struggle to understand how this can be. At the same time I believe understanding their approach is crucial if things are to move forward. But it is great to know there are others who have similar concerns (well, of course they do but they don’t necessarily say so) and it is clear you know a lot more about it than me – so, once again, thannks for your helpful and interesting and informative comments.
Artichokes . . . we grow them year in, year out – from themselves. Some we let flower (brilliant) most we eat. I find their quality and taste varies a lot from year to year. Last year they were a bit soggy – reminded me a bit of frosted potatoes – but, this year, they are wonderful and I could eat and eat them. (Fortunately they have no unfortunate side effects to (on?) my digestion.
Flour – I have a wheat and gluten intolerance and am very unwell if I eat either. I hadn’t known until I read your post that flour can be made from artichokes. Probably a bit fiddly to make much, given the ins and outs of peeling them – but I shall be very interested to know what it’s like and, since I am so very hit and miss about when I drop by . . . I’d be really grateful were you to alert me when you do your ‘How it worked out’ post.
Best wishes for the rest of Christmas and for all of 2010 and beyond.
Esther
January 7, 2010 at 20:11
The flour was definitely a bit fiddly but it was fun to try. And finding how tasty the crisps were on the way made it worthwhile even if the flour fails. I don’t think the artichoke flour works as a substitute – I’m approaching it as an additive to other flours. But I’ll check out the chemistry a bit if I can. Hoping to have time to try it this weekend so will let you know the results.
I hope I behaved okay on your Copenhagen post… I’d stayed up late reading about the latest negotiations and struggling to understand why so many people take the views they do on climate change, and feeling frustrated at our inaction.
January 10, 2010 at 17:44
You behaved brilliantly! What a question! I always look forward to your comments and you can put as many links as you like there too. It’s really helpful and much appreciated. Posts become so much more interesting when the people who read them tip in with ideas of their own and the people who visit Esther’s Boring Garden Blog do tend to do just that, you amongst them.
Esther
December 29, 2009 at 16:53
Hi Esther,
I subscribed to the follow-up comments, and I am also busy, and about to eat an early lunch, then go to my daughter’s to pack up her kitchen.
The reason I came back is to ask if you are allergic to other foods, or have problems with eczema when you eat gluten. My daughter has it all over her body, and a couple years ago went for allergy tests. She found out she is extremely allergic to wheat, soy, and peanuts. She is also allergic to cats, and refuses to give hers up. She has also refused to quit eating the things that she’s allergic to. Here I am making all manner of things she can eat in case she comes over, but she goes to fast food places and such. For our Christmas gatherings, I made gluten free desserts for her, but she still ate the junk my mom brought. I keep printing out things about people’s skin clearing up after they go off gluten, but she just goes in for yet another cortisone shot, which clears it up for less and less time.
I wasn’t planning on going into such detail. Anyway, she is saying with this move, maybe she’ll start cooking and making healthier choices.