Friday, November 8, 2013

2013 Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke) harvest begins

I met a college student last week who volunteers at an inner city community garden, who asked me what  I thought were the most disease free, productive crops I've grown. The answer was easy --trombone squash and sunchokes!
Unfortunately, neither is ideal for a community garden plot -- the trombone squash needs lots of square footage to romp along productively (though it adapts well to being tied to a fence), and sunchokes need careful harvesting to be part of a crop rotation-- they are so vigorous that a tiny piece left behind will overwhelm the intended crop if not meticulously weeded.
But both crops are productive, nutritious, trouble free and mild flavored vegetables that adapt to a wide range of cuisines.
I did a few things different with sunchokes this year. Like my other perennial crops, they  now have their own dedicated bed, and will not rotate out of it unless there is an unexpected pest or disease problem. Because of the 10-12 foot height of the mature sunflowers, this bed is at the back of the garden, where it won't shade other crops.
I am also not going to dig up several bushels of sunchokes at a time, because they don't store well out of the ground. I will use thaws throughout the winter to harvest a few pounds at a time, using the bed as my root cellar.
And to avoid digestive problems I did not start digging the sunchokes until several hard frosts, so that they could change chemically into a more digestible starch.
The flowers were a great treat in October-- so fresh and bright:



We had several hard frosts in late October, and earlier this week I decided to cut back the tops and dig a few tubers. I used my loppers to snap the thick stems, then laid the frosted tops next to the bed:



Last fall the tubers were big, many larger than my fist. Would the harvest be as good this year, or had I planted them too thickly, or not watered enough during the October drought?
Finally the moment of truth-- I grabbed the bottom of a clump of trimmed stems and pulled.  And pulled-- finally I had to brace myself with both feet and use two hands.


I needn't have worried-- I pulled about five pounds off that one clump! I rinsed them off, them put them in the garage on newspapers to dry. Then I mulched the rest of the planting with leaves from the lawn. That was it-- my sunchoke bed is ready for harvest through the winter.
I  ate my newly harvested tubers for the first time tonight, prepared very simply.  I scrubbed them and cut off any brown spots, then parboiled them several minutes,  then caramelized them under the broiler with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, all delicious.