Years ago, I think it was 2001 and 2002, we spent a week at a cabin in Georgia. The other day when I was at the dentist, she asked me where was my favorite place we ever went on vacation and I told her about that little cabin in Ellijay, GA. I loved it there!
It was way out away from any other places but there was a little lane that went off into the woods so one day Vince and I walked down there and found a little house with a very elderly man sitting on the porch. He noticed us and invited us up to sit on his porch. His wife came out and they ended up inviting us in for apple pie. We had left Chad down at the cabin and had told him we’d be back in a few minutes so I figured I’d better walk back and tell him where we were. The old couple decided to walk back with us. We had new friends! 🙂
While they were sitting at our cabin, somehow the subject of Jerusalem artichokes came up. I had no idea what they were so they told us to come back with them to their cabin. He told us all about them, dug up a few, told me how to plant them and care for them; she told me how to cook them. I planted them along a little embankment by our driveway and they grew great there. Nothing else was interested in growing on that slope and we had about decided to bring in rocks and cover it with rocks but those sun chokes took off and loved it there. I brought some with me to Missouri, and then brought some with me to Texas but we had to rent a place there until we could find a house to buy and I can’t remember if the sun chokes got lost or just didn’t make but when we came back to Missouri, I had to buy new tubers to plant.
This website has a lot of info about Jerusalem artichokes if you aren’t familiar with them. The ONE THING you need to know is that they will take over. While I don’t consider them invasive (they probably are), if you keep them contained (if you can), they’re not terrible but they’re fun to eat, healthy and so very easy to grow in every area where we’ve lived. The easiest way to store them is to leave them in the ground! We never eat them until after a good frost. The tops die back and the flavor/texture is great.
We have an area in front of the house – the garage is on the left, the house is behind them, to the right is a concrete porch and in front is a concrete walkway so, at least for now, they’re contained! They will grow very tall and with a bit of wind, they fall over and look a bit messy. I’m sure our neighbors think they’re some kind of weed that we aren’t controlling but, nope – not a weed. They’re food! 🙂
The bees love them. I can cut the stalks back a bit before they get too tall and that keeps them under control but I never remember to do it in time.
Another reason I let them grow – our large dining room window faces west and, with those stalks very tall, they help block the afternoon sun.
I do have this recipe for pickling them and we like it so I’ll probably do that with some of them. But, I so love that we can leave them in the ground and dig them when we want to eat them. That’s so unlike most things we grow.
Grow them if you dare but make sure to keep them contained. They will take over (kinda like me and my cross stitching! <G>).