Jerusalem Artichokes

I had never heard of Jerusalem artichokes until about 20 years ago. Vince, Chad and I had rented a cabin in north Georgia, which was where Vince thought we would retire so we went there several times a year to make sure that’s where we wanted to go. You see how that worked out.

There was a cabin that we loved and it was way out in the woods. You couldn’t even see another house. A family from Atlanta had built it for their retirement home and until they retired, they rented it out so we would go at least twice a year. There was an elderly man and lady . . they were probably in their 80’s, which doesn’t sound nearly so old now as it seemed 20 years ago, and somehow we met them and they would invite us over for dinner every time we came. The man knew I liked to garden and he told me all about Jerusalem artichokes and gave us a bag full when we left.

We were living in Kentucky and I planted them and we had a bumper crop of Jerusalem artichokes every year. When we moved, I dug up a dozen or so of them and took them to Missouri and planted them there. They grew well there but we moved there in January so I didn’t get them planted til spring so it was the next year before they produced so I didn’t get many since we were only there four years. I didn’t bring them to Texas because we were renting when we first got there and I had no idea how long before we’d find a house, nor did I know how hard it was to grow things there.

Once we got our garden ready, I ordered Jerusalem artichokes and planted them. They struggled. I got a few but never many.

I ordered some to plant here and they arrived today.

They are supposed to have amazing health benefits. We eat them a lot in salads or dipped in Ranch Dressing. I like them roasted too. You can read more about them here.

I don’t want to plant them in raised beds because I think they need to be underground for protection from the freezes. We’ve taken about everything out of our front bed, in front of the dining room window. We’ll probably leave them there and then by Fall, 2022, we will have pulled out some of the shrubs on the south side of the house and we can plant them there. It’s too hot to do it today but I think it’s going to be cooler tomorrow and I’ll try to get them in the ground then.