Potato and Tuber Crops

Jerusalem Artichoke Cultivation

Jerusalem Artichoke

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) is a large, perennial sunflower native to the Great Plains of North America. It is closely related to the common sunflower (H. annuus) that grows along roadsides and vacant fields throughout the western United States. It has been cultivated by native Americans for centuries, and was introduced into Europe in the early 1600s. Like true potatoes, it produces edible tubers at the ends of underground stems called rhizomes. The tubers contain "eyes" or buds and are technically modified stems rather than roots. The common name may have been corrupted from the Italian name for the plant "girasole articiocco". "Girasole" refers to the way the flowers turn to face the sun, and "articiocco" refers to artichoke. Some people say the tubers taste like artichoke hearts if they are steamed with the peel on. The peel imparts the artichoke flavor to this vegetable. The tubers are eaten raw in salads, steamed, fried, baked and mashed. Raw tubers are very crisp and sweet, with a taste more like water chestnuts than potatoes. Jerusalem artichokes provide an abundant source of nutritious, tasty tubers in poor soils with very little care. The original name of "sunchoke" was applied to a hybrid between the Jerusalem artichoke and the common sunflower.

Jerusalem Artichoke Plant