We have arrived at the first special delivery pick of the week in that I couldn’t find these anywhere. In my research leading up to this goal of 52 unique fruits and vegetables I kept coming across sunchokes, or Jerusalem artichokes as others call them, and I never could find them in a store. What was even more disheartening was that I couldn’t find them online until I stumbled upon Earthy Delights. I am incredibly lucky to have found them because they carry all sorts of things on my list and there was no hassle. Earthy Delights is not paying me to say these things, I just think it is an awesome site and you should check it out.
Would you look at these things though? They are probably the ugliest thing I’ve tried so far, and that is going up against celeriac. They aren’t ugly in that they are knobby, brown and have roots resembling hair, no, these are ugly because they remind me of a thorax of a bug. The grooves all around them have that insect plate look to them so I will try to make myself not think about that when eating them.
I’m not sure how to pick out the best sunchokes, but I’m sure it is like most root vegetables where as long as they’re not rotten or shriveled up you are good to go. They were slightly soft when I got them, but not mushy soft, more like an unripe fruit feeling.
Every single description of their taste describes them as “nutty.” I write about food fairly often and I’ve never tasted anything nutty other than an actual nut. Whenever people tell me that it tastes nutty, I one-hundred percent expect it to be a big bite of pecan. However, this term seems to apply to it across the board when I did some researching.
People also generally use these like they would potatoes in recipes. They even look like potatoes that had a baby with a ginger root. I’m not really sure what to expect because at this point I expect a baked potato consistency with pecan taste. This week will be a new week for sure, so go ahead and order some sunchokes and try with me.
Try 52 
2 thoughts