Sometimes you really can have too much of a GOOD thing!

Not known as the most tasty of garden treats, the Jerusalem artichoke does, however grow prolifically.

From only plants, we produced over 20 kilos of artichokes. Needless to say, this was a little shocking... especially for those designated to eat them.

So... the first thing you should know about Jerusalem artichokes is that they're knobbly. They are supposed to be knobbly... Do not be scared by their appearance.

So here are a few more fun facts about Jerusalem artichokes and their benefits...

1) They are exceptionally easy to grow (this is excellent for novice vegetable growers such as us)

2) They are low in calories (i found this online but I am assuming they are fairly high in carbohydrates)

3) They can be eaten raw or cooked (We recommend cooked, but if you are going to eat them raw then we recommend a healthy covering of creamy dip)

4) If eaten in very large quantities you can feel a little sick

5) Putting a little effort in, Jerusalem artichokes can be very tasty and a great addition to a variety of meals... plus they look really really cool and it sounds very fancy when you say your are serving Jerusalem artichokes as a side dish!

Planting

1)You can pretty much plant them anywhere... which means you can put them somewhere in the garden where nothing else grows.

2)This is another big benefit... they grow quickly and very tall with sturdy stems which act as a fantastic windbreak or screen.

3)One tuba can produce 20 so you don't need to plant too many otherwise they will take over...

Caring for them

All the literature that i have read (2 websites) says that they should be watered regularly and the earth should be piled up the stalks as they grow. However we pretty much planted our artichokes and then left them with no attention and they grew like bamboo (which by the way grows quickly (depending on the variety))

Harvesting

Our very favourite Jeruselum artichoke tit bit, is that you should only harvest after the first frost. Jessica Montgomery found this out, early in the season and by late autumn everybody knew this fact. We did, however, completely ignore it. We got slightly impatient and dug them all up in early November. However the season has been a little late this year so we came out of it on top and with a lot of artichokes.

Cooking

So... at this point we have an abundance of artichokes and not one person who knew anything about them. Jess had had them once before but she didn't really know how to cook them, except she knew you could roast them. Our genius idea was to have a experimental cook-off... Every volunteer had to make one dish with Jerusalem artichokes in an evening and we would all try each other's for dinner. This is not to be recommended. In future, maybe limit your artichoke dishes to one per day. However we did come up with some great recipes and very tasty dishes.

Firstly Jess made what was going to frittata but ended up tortilla. This as with onion, garlic, eggs and of course artichokes. She sliced the artichokes thinly in rounds. This was very delicious and best eaten hot.

Next I made artichoke dip. I roasted the artichokes (i knew that i could do this with the previous information from Jess). Then i fried some onions and garlic, put everything in a bowl with come cream cheese and whizzed it up. I think there may have been some more ingredients but I’m not sure what they were. I then put it in a dish, grated some trusty cheddar and put it in the oven. This was pretty good too.

Norm made what he called 'Artichoke caviar'... I'm not sure why he called it this but again it was very tasty. He put this paste on toasted square which he presented as an hors d’oeuvre.

James made curried artichoke wedges. I believe coated the artichokes in a flower, garlic and curry mix and then fried them. This is an ideal snack... perhaps perfect for while playing poker.

Coral set out to make rosemary and artichoke crisps. We had spied some rosemary growing down the lane in a neighbour's front yard, so we sent Coral off, in the dark to forage for herbs. She came back with lavender. This produced some very fragrant smelling, salty snacks. The crisps were definitely a hit.

Jakob created a type of artichoke fritter, which he then spread with either banana, jam or cheese. We all differed in our opinions of which was best, but it was lovely to have a sweet alternative. It would have been more lovely if Jakob had not eaten most of them himself.

Finally Paul made coleslaw without any artichokes. This was also good.

The moral of this story is that you can definitely make some very tasty dishes from Jerusalem artichokes, plus you can add them to stew or soups as a great alternative to potatoes. We think that this is an under rated vegetable. It's easy to grow, it's prolific, it requires very little care and can feed a lot of people. Our only top tip is to spread out your artichoke consumption so that you don't need a 2 week break from them after one artichoke saturated evening!