Topic: Jerusalem Artichokes

[Yorkshire Lass]

I bought some Jerusalem artichokes yesterday, reduced in price. Thought they would make  good soup. Not bought any before or grown any. How on earth do you prepare them? Thay look very knobbly and difficult to deal with.
YL

[markfield rover]

Yummy ,the best soup I know! If they are very knobbly then I usually scrub with a scourer , slice and cook.

[ACE]

Somehow I just cannot get over the taste. I cannot pinpoint it but they do taste awful to me. But they do make an attractive windbreak and great fun to feed unsuspecting guests.

[kGarden]

How on earth do you prepare them? Thay look very knobbly and difficult to deal with.

Steam and then peel might help ...

No idea what variety might be on sale in Supermarket (I would think that easiest-to-peal would be a preference, but maybe highest-yield-for-framer is the Supermarket's criteria), but if you buy some to plant yourself I recommend Fuseau which has a smooth-ish! skin

[pumkinlover]

Somehow I just cannot get over the taste. I cannot pinpoint it but they do taste awful to me. But they do make an attractive windbreak and great fun to feed unsuspecting guests.

Was that meant to be double entendre? !? 

[goodlife]

If they are really really knobbly...it is easiest to peel them after cooking...though if you are making soup, just cut them into smaller chunks and then peel them.
They make nice tasting chips/roasties too....oh, and if you cook some with potatoes, say half and half in veg stock...then blend/mash it and add bit of cream/milk...bit of butter and seasoning and that soup is yummy OR..mash...but again you need 2/3 of potatoes as JA's don't 'hold' together because of lack of starch.

[Paulh]

We break the small knobbly bits off, peel with a vegetable peeler, parboil and roast in oil / chili oil / goose fat / whatever.

Dressing with paprika or ground ginger before roasting is said to be effective.

Roasted they are slightly squishy and look, smell and taste lie dahlia tubers (not that I have tasted dahlia tubers though they are edible).

You will be asking "effective against what?" and "unsuspecting guests?" Well, JAs are affectionately known also as fartichokes. I am not too susceptible but certainly get bloated on them worse than those ladies in the TV adverts. One of my sons will eat them, but my wife, daughter and other son won't touch them. My sister-in-law thought they were delicious the first time she ate them with us, went back for seconds several times, and was very uncomfortable overnight (though her husband says it wasn't the artichokes but the wine).

I still grow them, but will keep it to one plant (which produces about a football size of tubers).

[Yorkshire Lass]

I made some really lovely soup with the artichokes yesterday. A lovely earthly smooth taste. As I wanted the flavour of the artichokes in the soup I peeled before cooking in stock and onion. They were not easy to peel but after breaking off the really small knobbles I managed ok with my arthritic hands.  Thanks for all advice and comments. No doubt we'll discover the after effects in a short while!
YL

[Obelixx]

They are also really lovely used instead of potatoes in a gratin dauphinoise, layered with cream and garlic and some s & p and cooked long and slow. 

I still have a naughty laugh when I remember feeding it to an adult gathering of the mums and toddlers group which included an NZ couple who then had a very windy night and thought I'd poisoned them.   She was OK but he was an arrogant, all knowing S.O.B. who thought roughage is for farm animals so had double trouble digesting the fartichokes.

[Vinlander]

The skin is really thin, is not tough, and has no detectable flavour (any more than carrot or parsnip skin) and it is shiny enough to be a bonus - it makes it really easy to just scrub them and then scrape the 5-10% where dirt is lodged. A hell of a lot easier than peeling! If you've let the mud dry on the skins then 10 minutes in a bucket of water will make scrubbing even easier.

I grow mainly the knobblies but there are smoother varieties like 'fuseau' . I feel they definitely don't have quite as much flavour, but they are still good and I keep some going for when I'm feeling lazy.

The best thing about the skin is that it helps you boil and roast them for longer.

I'm absolutely convinced that well-roasted ones are much less windy  - not to mention that when they become little bags of mush inside their skins they are absolutely delicious. And they make even better soup.  Which explains why I don't boil often - so I can't be certain boiling is effective against the windyness.


For those that haven't tried them they have more than a hint of globe artichoke - possibly slightly smokier. If you really hate smoked food then you probably won't like them (ACE?) but I just love potatoes in embers, plus smoked fish, duck, chicken, cheese (especially Canary goat ahumado) and even whisky. Somewhere in Germany they make schnapps from them - I'd love to taste it for smokiness but I've never seen it in any shop ever.

Cheers.

[Vinlander]

On the subject of artichoke flavours - I don't want to start a leaching scare but whenever I drain the last drop from a plastic milk container I get a distinct taste of artichoke.

Anyone else get the same reaction?

Cheers.