Lesson 6.9.0 JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE - Helianthus tuberos

 

FOOD FOREST COURSE

AGRO-ECONOMY  Lesson 6.9.0 

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE - Helianthus tuberos

 

When the first Europeans arrived, they found these tubers to be one of the foods eaten by the native Indians.  The Europeans brought them back to utilize this tuber as a source of pig food and for fermenting into alcohol.  Gardening books will tell you until this day that the Jerusalem artichoke is good pig fodder.  Personally, I wouldn’t waste it on the pigs, as this tuber is excellent food for humans.

Jerusalem artichoke has in fact nothing to do with Jerusalem or the globe artichoke but has more in common with Yakon (Polymnia sonchifolia), as they both share the same unusual form of sugar, inulin.  Also, like Yakon, Jerusalem artichokes are related to the sunflower family.

Cultivation

Planting time is around late spring / early summer and harvesting time is in autumn.   The Jerusalem artichoke tuber has many eyes suitable for propagating and like the humble spud; the new plants will grow new shoots from them.  It is best to select the plumpest tubers that are the least knobbly as they will tend to reproduce the nice round specimens instead of the knobbly and hard to peel variety.  Cut them into sections with several eyes on one piece and rub them in ash or let them dry for a day before planting and you’ll be surprised at how little you will need to plant to have an abundant crop.  

 

It is advisable to plant the pieces about half a metre apart as the clumps will eventually need this much space when they have matured.  It can be truly amazing how productive this humble tuber can be in fairly ordinary conditions but if Jerusalem Artichokes are given the optimum of a friable rich soil with adequate but not too much water, they will be truly prolific.  They really are very easy to grow and need very little in the way of irrigation as usually the rains will give them sufficient moisture. 

It is said that once you have planted Jerusalem artichokes in the garden you will have them forever.  I have found however, that in extremely dry conditions the small pieces of tuber will simply shrivel up and die when planted without any irrigation.  Having said that, I have also noticed a few scraggily plants planted a couple of years ago that never really made it to maturity but have made a feeble but brave appearance after all this time as if to say, hey remember me, I’m not quite dead yet.

At the time of writing, I have a garden bed with a few square metres of Jerusalem artichoke that are at least a metre tall and are in full flower.  They are situated at the end of a rather large garden and they make quite a show.  The sunflower like flower is ablaze in all its glory and I love to show them of to any visitors that might come along.  Unfortunately the flowers need to be trimmed off at this stage to encourage optimum tuber formation.  Yes it does hurt a bit but productivity wins in the end!

Finding the planting material can be a little hard, as this is not a common vegetable. Some green grocers stock the tubers and they can also be found at markets.  Look for the tubers in shops and markets from mid- winter and onwards and immediately place them in moist sawdust in a box, otherwise they will shrivel up and die.  Plant them in spring.

Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison.



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