Meet the mighty sunchoke!
Helianthus tuberosus, also known as the Earth Apple, Sunroot, Sunchoke or Jerusalem Artichoke, is a gnarly tuber that comes from a wild sunflower native to central North America! It was then brought back to Europe where it is now widely planted and “naturalized.” Here at Vista Verde Ranch, we get them from Mexico and the southern reaches of the US from November to March.
They have rippled, brown skin and a crisp white interior. Although the skin is edible, they are generally peeled before use. At the ranch, more times than not, we just scrub them well and move on. Avoid buying soft or obviously bruised chokes as they will spoil before you know it. Once purchased, plan on using them within a week as they do tend to go bad quickly. Just put them in a low humidity produce drawer in the fridge and you should be good to go for several days.
When you are ready to cook ‘em, you have a variety of options, but here are a few of the methods we use:
- Peel and cook them with potatoes to make a wonderful potato-sunchoke mash (c’mon, don’t be shy with butter and cream folks. Heavy cream is heavenly).
- You CAN peel them and cook them in milk over low temp, puree when tender, and add some of the cooking liquid, kosher salt, and white pepper–but again, for more fun, use half and half. Flavor baby, flavor.
- We sometimes slice them thin on a mandolin and fry them until crispy, remove to paper towels, and season immediately with salt. Great munchie or even a garnish in a salad or on a nice piece of halibut or salmon.
- My personal favorite is to wash them, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast until tender – about 30-45 minutes in a 400 degree oven. From here you can smash them or toss with some fresh herbs or cut them in about 1” pieces and fry them in olive oil. Mmmmmm, tasty.
- One final favorite is to peel them, place in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until tender. When ready, drain them, cut them into abstract pieces (dodecahedrons perhaps?). Heat a sauté pan (medium to medium-high), add whole butter, and when the butter begins to foam, add chokes, season, and sauté. Toss with a little chopped parsley and thyme (fresh only, you heathens), season with salt and pepper, and voila: yumminess.
One of the neat things about sunchokes is that they are naturally a little sweet but, because of the carbohydrate inulin, which is not processed in the intestines, they will not cause a glycemic spike (like potatoes do) and they’ll give your gut health a boost!
If you’re looking for more recipe inspirations, check out all our ranch recipes HERE.
