Sure, this sounds crazy to some, particularly if they live around here and they look out and see the fresh ice crystals that appear each morning. But spring IS almost here. My houseplants are sprouting up and paying attention to the change. The sun is actually WARM (for late February) when you feel it on your skin (and it is almost warm enough to expose your skin to the air and sun). And Puxatauny Phil saw his shadow. Spring is almost upon us!
Over the last couple years, I have read and listened to Barbara Kingsolver’s ”Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” at least twice. The first time, I read it for the content. I think the second time I absorbed the book as a coping mechanism to bridge this time from deep winter to bare ground. In her book, Ms. Kingsolver talks about one of the first signs of edible spring being asparagus. Certainly, I look forward to seeing asparagus this spring, too, since I planted some in my yard last year. However, the plant I know will be ready and waiting for me as soon as I can dig down and get to it is the Jerusalem artichoke.
Jerusalem artichokes are not very well known. In fact, I have met very few people who have not automatically started talking about artichoke dip and other factoids associated with the globe artichoke. The globe artichoke is available at many grocery stores (even in small towns). The Jerusalem artichoke does not store well as a fresh vegetable, and is rarely found in the food market.
To the casual observer, the Jerusalem artichoke plant looks similar to a commercial sunflower (that create sunflower seeds to eat): tall and with large leaves. There are two primary differences. The artichoke stalk is hairy and the sunflower stalk is smooth. Artichoke flowers are yellow, and appear at the top of the stalk, but they are much smaller than a commercial sunflower.
The powerful part of the Jerusalem artichoke is underground. There you will find a treasure trove of tubers, similar to potatoes but more knobby. Depending on a number of factors, including soil composition, access to nutrients and water, and time of year, the tubers may be as small as a marble or as large as a baseball. A hardy plant, tubers and portions of tubers left in the ground over the winter create a new artichoke plant. So, like with potatoes, one tuber unit may create a number of new plants, with a new one potentially coming from each knob on the tuber. I’m not hear to write about the science of these prolific nuggets though. I am here to herald the imminence of their arrival in this year’s food scheme.
As soon as the snow clears around some of these treasures (and the ground thaws just a bit so I can get a shovel or fork into my yard), I plan on bringing a couple of tubers inside and cooking them. Slice ‘em, dice ‘em, fry ‘em in a pan! Yes!
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