Im growing jerusalem artichokes for the first time so will try them mashed with spuds but are they really that bad for giving you wind? :o
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It varies from one person to another. If beans give you wind, then jerusalem artichokes (and even more so chinese artichokes) are likely to embarrass you. It's caused by a carbohydrate called inulin which is difficult to digest.
Since we are off topic, I feel that I can recount a story told to me by my brother. Some years ago he was working in France for a British engineering company. Every three months, the technical director would pay them a visit, and they'd all go out to lunch. But the technical director was an old-fashioned guy from the Black Country, who rejected any food that smacked of "foreign muck". A VERY well cooked steak and frites was about as adventurous as he got.
Eventually he announced his retirement, and he came over to Paris for the last time. The head of the French bureau told him that they'd arranged a celebratory lunch, where for once he could eat French food. But not to worry, they'd chosen things that they knew that he'd like. And absolutely no "blood" in the meat.
Well, he thoroughly enjoyed the huge bowl of jerusalem artichoke soup that was placed in front of him, and even allowed himself to be persuaded to a modest extra ladleful. Main course was lamb (grieviously overcooked just as he would like it) accompanied by copious amounts of most delicious flageolet beans.
Poor chap. He didn't get as far as pudding. The flash to bang time was so short and the result so awful that the restaurant kindly found him a chair so that he could sit outside in the street.
