This represents a beautiful blend of autumn harvest ingredients including sunchokes and corn. Around this time of the year, many of us will notice these little bright colored sunchokes in the vegetables aisle of our local grocery, and wonder what they are. And may not even know that these are actually related to the sunflower family.

Growing as the tubers of tall North American sunflowers these are also called “Jerusalem artichokes”. However, they’re not actually from or native to Jerusalem. In fact, they were cultivated by indigeneous people of North America prior to the arrival of Europeans. When the Puritans arrived, they named the plant in respect to the “New Jerusalem” that they believed they were building. 

What does this tuber taste like? Very similar to a nutty potato, even though they look like ginger roots. In fact, they can even be roasted like potatoes or brussel sprouts.

Why don’t I hear many people eating them? If not cooked properly, these can cause gastic issues due to a prebiotic fiber called inulin. It’s naturally sweet, but not digestible by humans; therefore, bacteria in our lower intestinal tract will break it down and produce methane. Inulin is  beneficial for a healthy gut microbiome and can even be taken as a supplement, but for most people it is not worth the natural gaseous effects. 

Thankfully, there are ways around this to cancel the gaseous effects. In my recipe, I let them marinate in acidic lemon water and boil for at least an hour. 

This puree recipe is gold, from the tastes to the colors and aromas during the cooking process.

Serve with truffle oil, crushed red pepper, fried garlic, fried shallots, or fried sunchoke skins.

Let me know in the comments below if you tried the recipe and if you have any variations you’d like to share 🙂