What is a Sunchoke?

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.

Laundry day

Nostalgia

L'arriere saison by Philippe Besson

First post

So it's Friday night, 9.45pm, I'm drinking a polish beer, I'm about to eat a reheated mexican meal (delivered cold) and that's it, I guess.
But I did post!