by Lisa Giroday, Sandra Lopuch and Sam Philips | What exactly is a sunchoke? Well, you’ve probably heard the unassuming little tuber go by a myriad of names. It’s been called a Jerusalem artichoke, a sunroot, an earth apple, the Canada potato, a lambchoke, and even a topinambour. Their botanical name, Helianthus tuberosus, indicates that it’s a type of sunflower. It’s strange that these little guys are called Jerusalem artichokes, as they aren’t from Jerusalem (they’re native to North America. ), and they aren’t even artichokes. That said, both sunchokes and artichokes are members of the sunflower family.

Italian settlers to the USA used to call sunchokes girasole (“Sunflower” in Italian), as the plant is similar in appearance to a sunflower, and they are both in the same genus. One explanation of the “Jerusalem” moniker is that, over time, the name girasole morphed into “Jerusalem”. Another is that when the pilgrims settled in the New World, they named the tuber in relation to the “New Jerusalem” they were forming. The artichoke piece of the puzzle originates from the taste of a sunchoke, as it’s often likened to a cross between a potato and an artichoke. The French explorer Samuel de Champlain was someone who felt this way about the tuber, and the name stuck. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the name “sunchoke” was coined by a produce wholesaler named Frieda Caplan.

So what do you do with these tubers that have a similar appearance to a ginger root, and vary in colour from pale white, to brown, to red and purple, with a similar texture to a potato? Well, because sunchokes are cultivated as delicious root vegetables, they are excellent either roasted, steamed, or mashed, and they are perfection in soups. The Acorn, one of our favourite Vancouver restaurants, has a to-die-for sunchoke soup garnished with hazelnut salt, scallion oil, and parsnip crisps (pictured above). Eating sunchokes raw has increased in popularity, as they have a crisp texture and are subtly sweet, earthy, and nutty – very reminiscent of water chestnuts. Try thinly slicing raw sunchokes as an addition to salads and slaws, or create a sunchoke carpaccio (see recipes all over the internet for inspiration). Lastly, try making your own sunchoke chips.

But here’s the thing: be careful with your sunchoke intake. They can cause gastrointestinal upset. Yep, apparently they give you gas. Because sunchokes are very rich in inulin, a carbohydrate linked with prebiotic (bacteria promoting) properties (not to be confused with probiotic), they tend to not digest, but promote stimulation of good intestinal health. Confusing as that may be, sunchokes also contain vitamin C, phosphorus, and potassium, and they are a very good source of iron.

Where to find: You can sometimes find these babies at the Farmer’s Markets, but not always. If you spot ’em, nab some.

In the garden: This perennial plant is a mega-proliferator. Each sunchoke root can propagate an additional 75 to as many as 200 tubers by Fall’s end. While the tubers are perennial, they need relocation to new and fertile soil each year.

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Victory Gardens is a team of local urban farmers for hire. Lisa, Sandra and Sam help transform tired or underused residential and commercial green spaces into food producing gardens. Their goal is to challenge the way communities use space and to participate in the change needed to consume food more sustainably. For the rest of the growing season, they’ve hooked up with Scout to share some cool tips and tricks on how to get the best from of our own backyards.