Produce Briefs...
White Corn
White corn is a sweet corn variety. Its ears are wrapped in tightly layered pale lime green to white husks. One ear of corn can contain up to 400 kernels growing in rows lengthwise.
Cantaloupe Melon
The cantaloupe is defined by two elements: its roughly netted stone and green colored skin and its aromatic orange-coral colored flesh. When perfectly ripe, the flesh is juicy, unctuous and sweet.
Seasons/Availability
Available year round, Sunchokes offer a sweeter flavor in fall and winter.
Current Facts
Once strictly a specialty food, this vegetable is now becoming more widely available in markets everywhere.
Description/Taste
Actually a tuber, the sunchoke looks like a small, bumpy potato or ginger root. The knobby, thin-skinned exterior is usually tannish-gold to cream colored but some varieties are reddish or purplish. Sweet and quite delicate, the crisp, white flesh has almost a sweetly fresh nutty taste with subtle hints of artichoke heart and salsify. Ivory and crunchy, the chewy texture is quite similar to jicama or a water chestnut.
Nutritional Value
Containing more than three times the iron as an equal serving of broccoli, sunchokes offer a generous amount of the carbohydrate inulin, plus vitamin B and vitamin C. Because of their generous amount of inulin, this vegetable is tolerated well by diabetics. Four ounces contains about 60 calories.
Applications
Sunchokes are often cooked in combination with other root vegetables. Diced sunchokes and add to diced potatoes and onions, cook in broth and puree into soup. Sliced thinly and sautee with onions and garlic until browned. Cover sliced sunchokes with vinegar, salt and mustard seeds, then let sit up to a week to pickle. Saute diced sunchokes in butter until brown, add cream, then puree and toss with cooked spinach for "creamed spinach". Depending on freshness when purchased, raw sunchokes can be stored one to three weeks. Refrigerate cooked sunchokes; use within two days.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
An overnight success, sunchokes became part of the French larder at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The sunchoke is a main ingredient in Algerian recipes for couscous.
Geography/History
Known as the Jerusalem artichoke since the seventeenth century, fairly recently it has finally been more appropriately referred to as the "sunchoke". A member of the sunflower genus, Helianthus tuberosus, the original Native American name of "sun root" is said to be the most appropriate.
Featured Restaurants
Restaurants currently purchasing this product as an ingredient for their menu.
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Sunchokes. One
is easiest, three is harder.
Available year round, Sunchokes offer a sweeter flavor in fall and winter.
Current Facts
Once strictly a specialty food, this vegetable is now becoming more widely available in markets everywhere.
Description/Taste
Actually a tuber, the sunchoke looks like a small, bumpy potato or ginger root. The knobby, thin-skinned exterior is usually tannish-gold to cream colored but some varieties are reddish or purplish. Sweet and quite delicate, the crisp, white flesh has almost a sweetly fresh nutty taste with subtle hints of artichoke heart and salsify. Ivory and crunchy, the chewy texture is quite similar to jicama or a water chestnut.
Nutritional Value
Containing more than three times the iron as an equal serving of broccoli, sunchokes offer a generous amount of the carbohydrate inulin, plus vitamin B and vitamin C. Because of their generous amount of inulin, this vegetable is tolerated well by diabetics. Four ounces contains about 60 calories.
Applications
Sunchokes are often cooked in combination with other root vegetables. Diced sunchokes and add to diced potatoes and onions, cook in broth and puree into soup. Sliced thinly and sautee with onions and garlic until browned. Cover sliced sunchokes with vinegar, salt and mustard seeds, then let sit up to a week to pickle. Saute diced sunchokes in butter until brown, add cream, then puree and toss with cooked spinach for "creamed spinach". Depending on freshness when purchased, raw sunchokes can be stored one to three weeks. Refrigerate cooked sunchokes; use within two days.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
An overnight success, sunchokes became part of the French larder at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The sunchoke is a main ingredient in Algerian recipes for couscous.
Geography/History
Known as the Jerusalem artichoke since the seventeenth century, fairly recently it has finally been more appropriately referred to as the "sunchoke". A member of the sunflower genus, Helianthus tuberosus, the original Native American name of "sun root" is said to be the most appropriate.
Featured Restaurants
Restaurants currently purchasing this product as an ingredient for their menu.
| Table 926 | San Diego CA | 858-539-0926 |
| Nine - Ten | San Diego CA | 858-964-5400 |
| Lodge at Torrey Pines Main | San Diego CA | 858-453-4420 |
| Burlap | San Diego CA | 858 369 5700 |
| JRDN Restaurant | San Diego CA | 858-270-5736 |
| Lauberge Del Mar | Del Mar CA | 858-259-1515 |
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Sunchokes. One
is easiest, three is harder.| Hunter Angler Gardener Cook |
|
Sunchoke Pickles |
| Herbivoracious |
|
Fresh Spinach Fettuccine With Goat Cheese, Jerusalem Artichokes, Morels And Leeks |
