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Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus Tuberosus Sunroot Earth Apple Tubers
Packet containing 5x small ready to plant tuberous roots!
I love these guys and used to eat them all the time when I lived down south.
The reason they were not on my regular menu here in Gin Gin 4671 Queensland Australia is because of climate.
They normally like it much cooler and moister than where I am here and they really aren’t common here.
Originally they are from North America and have been grown as a food crop by the Native Americans for more than 500years.
From there they spread to the East and West of the continent and eventually into Europe where they are still an important staple to this day.
Most folks say only plant them at the end of winter in soil temperatures between 8°C and 15°C letting them grow through to the warmer months.
Now I don’t disagree with that advice, but these guys in particular have been a bit of a project of mine for a while now, and I reckon my selection is pretty damn special!
The reason why is SEX!
Everyone selling these grows them only from the tuberous roots.
The roots are genetically identical to the parents because they are clones.
So the parent was best suited to the lower temperatures of North America, and therefore all the new plants are too.
Using sexual reproduction you get a mix of genetic material from both parents and this mix will give a mix of slightly different plants.
Unfortunately getting VIABLE seed set from this species is very rare, and out of a full bucket of hundreds of hand pollinated flowers from more than a dozen varieties sourced from plants all over the world, I only ever got around a dozen or so seedlings over a couple years.
Nearly all of them were weird weak little runts later being culled out.
One was a lovely pink colour but it just didn’t perform well enough to bother with so it unfortunately got the chop too.
But this white one was a beauty!
It grew fast and produced a heap of pure white crisp delicious tubers right here in the middle of Queensland Summer.
I’ve been growing that clone ever since and after buying as many as I could from folks all over Australia in the last two years to compare it against it outperformed the lot.
I also sent some to a forum friend in chilly Victoria and they reported that it grew and cropped just as good as any other one they have grown over the years.
Wasn’t amazing or anything, but it definitely wasn’t any worse.
So yeah, mine handles to cold fine, BUT it also handles the heat and drought pretty good too!
What you are buying from me is five small tubers and for me that is enough to get around a bucket full of roots at harvest time.
I use 1000lt IBC tanks cut in half as my raised garden beds.
Punching a couple holes in the side of the tank an inch or so off the ground(instead of the very bottom) allows water to drain away from the roots, but also allows some to collect in the bottom couple inches.
Like a jumbo self-watering pot.
I plant one tuber in each corner and one in the middle and they are buried about ~5cm deep in a nice sandy soil mix and I give them one really good drink.
That’s it.
In 4months I come back the plant has grown into a lovely looking sunflower crop about 1.2m high.
I then cut all the plants off at ~30-50cm high which stresses the plants forcing them to put energy into root storage which makes the eventual root crop ~30% bigger.
The plants reshoot again and a couple months later they die off and the roots can be harvested.
I get about a bucket from every 5 tubers I plant this way which is pretty damn productive considering the bugger all effort time and water that goes into the crop.
The roots can just be rinsed and eaten raw, or grated into salads, fried into vegetable fritters, cooked or mashed like a potato, chucked into the next soup, stew or curry your making, you name it really.
Super versatile.
Tasty raw or cooked and because of the high inulin and laevulin, they are really sought after by diabetics and folks on weight loss diets.
They taste quite sweet and once eaten the body converts the laevulin into laevulose which is a natural sugar used by the body as fuel.
It can’t do anything with the inulin though as humans just can’t digest it.
The gut bacteria we all have can though, and they break it down and convert it into fuel and as a by product gasses are also produced.
In other words they feed and improve the gut flora, aid digestion, and make you fart like a bloody champion all at the same time.
They have no starch, oils or fats and around 2% protein along with a heap of trace elements and minerals.
They are not from Jeruselum and they are not a true Artichoke either.
They are actually a sunflower relative and the name “Jerusalem-artichoke” is just a mangling of the Italian word “Girasole”. Girasole = Sunflower.
Other names they are known as are Canadian potato, Indian potato, aardpeer, aguaturma, artichaut de Jerusalem, artichaut du Canada, articokk, artiċiok, bataca, bataca de cana, batata-tupinamba, batata de cana, batatas vermelhas, batata tupinamba, batattas do Brasil, batattas topinamba, canarias, canarios, cartofle, castana de tierra, chufera, comi,earth apple, erdbirne, frantses patata, girasole, girasole del Canada, girasol tuberoso, girassol-batateiro, girassol batateiro, gomoljasta suncanica, gomoljasti suncokret, gumbine saulegraza, gyrasol batateiro, helianthe tubereux, Helianthe tubereux, Helianthus doronicoides, Helianthus esculentus, Helianthus pubescens, Helianthus serotinus, Helianthus spathulatus, Helianthus squarrosus, Helianthus strumosus subsp tomentosus, Helianthus subcanescens, Helianthus tomentosus, Helianthus tomentosus, Helianthus tuberosus moldenkeanus, Helianthus tuberosus oswaldiae, Helianthus tuberosus var subcanescens, Helianthus tuberosus var tuberosus, herba pudent, jordartskocka, jordskok, jordskokk, knollen-sonnenblume, laska repa, maa-artisokka, maapirn, macuca, marenquera, margarita grande, marquezom, molle e dheut, morski krumpir, nhod, nyama, nyamara, nyamera, nyameres, nyapes, papa, pataca, pataca de cana, pataca de pala, patacas, patacas de palo, pataka, pataquera, patata, patata de canya, patata de pala, patata de palo, patata de tierra, patata petorrera, patatas de cana, patata tumba, patata turma, peras de tierra, petacas, pignut, poire de terre, ptate de virginie, ramons, repa arapska, setembres, slnecnica hluznata, slonecznik bulwiasty, slunecnice topinambur, sunchoke, tartufo di canna, topinambas, topinambo, topinambor, topinambour, topinambur, Topinambur, topinamburo, topinamburs, topinamorr, topinanbu, trtor, trunfa canaria, tubera topinambores, tupinambo, tupinambur, tupinanbo, turma de agua and many many others too.
It’s a great species, and I reckon my selection is a great choice especially if you live somewhere that’s normally pretty hot and dry like I do.
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems no nasties, no problems!!!
