Friday, July 13, 2012

Sunchokes - harvesting the sun in Alaska.


These are Sunchokes - planted in the fall of last year in an empty row of my garden!  They all came up (I planted a pound of the tubers - about 20)  These are like potatoes in the way that they grow but you dont have to hill them and they are VERY low maintenance!  This is in Big Lake Alaska and although we did not have -52 below and we did have great snow cover, I think they will probably do well here in any type of winter.  I planted these very late in the fall too (it was already freezing at night here), and they did not seem to be bothered by that at all.  Sunchokes grow on top like sunflowers and their flower looks similar to that.  The taste is hard to describe and we all like to say they taste "fresh".  They are crispy raw and they cook up to be a little softer than a potato, more like a sweet potato.  We have not tried them as fries yet but it is on the list to do soon.  The kids around here like to eat them right out of the ground raw, like a carrot.  Give some a try and see how you like them!  My Sunchoke seed came from Johnnys Seed, but it is available from a few other places as well.  I will be saving some of mine and replanting them this year to try that, and I will also order a few more to put in as new starts.  Ill keeep you posted on what works the best!  Wicked Days and Blessed Be!

PS These are also called Jerusalem Artichokes, and you may be able to find seed more easily with that name!

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