Sunchokes

Helianthus tuberosus

Description

Sunchokes, aka Jerusalem Artichokes, are an absolute delight of a plant. I like to describe them as a sunflower on the top and a potato on the bottom. Botanically, they are in the same genus, Helianthus, as your common sunflowers, but instead of making seeds these more grounded sunflowers propagate by making loads of underground tubers, just like potatoes do.

The sunchokes we offer can get quite tall, up to 6 or 8 feet before flowering, and will definitely establish themselves as a strong patch if left unharvested. In addition to dominating an area of the landscape, sunchokes will produce smaller tubers over time if not harvested regularly, so it’s a win-win all around to harvest the sunchokes regularly. Replanting the biggest tubers can help to grow their average size over time as you cultivate sunchokes around the garden.

Preparing sunchokes for eating is just like preparing potatoes. You can roast them, bake them, fry them, or boil and mash them. Anyway you cook them, they are delicious and nutritious! Sunchokes are high in the starch inulin, which helps to promote colon health.

Site Preference

Sunchokes will produce the largest tubers in full sun and rich soil, but will still produce well even in partial shade as an understory element or in poor soils, as long as they have decent drainage.

Hardiness

Zone 4, possibly colder