Farmer Ric has a new vegetable on the farm this year that is quickly becoming my new favorite: sunchokes. Sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes) are flavorful little tubers that taste like a combination between water chestnuts, potatoes and something altogether indescribable. They taste too good to be good for you, but they are actually packed with nutrients, and are a great low-glucose substitute for potatoes.
Not only are sunchokes delicious and nutritious, but they’re also a great local crop because they are hearty enough to endure New Mexico’s dense clay-like soil. Farmer Ric says he hardly has to treat the soil at all, and the sunchokes just spring up! They’re also an excellent cold weather crop; we’ll be harvesting sunchokes all the way through December.
But what makes sunchokes my absolute favorite is that they’re not only fun to eat, they’re fun to harvest! Intern Zoe described harvesting sunchokes as, “like going on a treasure hunt,” and she is spot-on! This is what a sunchoke looks like before harvest:
When the leaves and the stalk have turned brown, you know that all the nutrients have been pulled down to the roots, and it’s time to dig the sunchokes up. Then, below the ground, they look like this:
Yum! You can try sunchokes fried like a potato chip on our new fried quail appetizer here at Farm & Table, or buy some of your own to experiment with from Farmer Ric at the market. The Downtown Growers’ Market is only happening one more time, though, so be sure to go this weekend! Enjoy!