Produce Briefs...
Wasabi
Wasabi is a perennial and a member of the Cruciferae family. It is grown mainly for its underground rhizome (tuber) which produces branch-less, edible leaves above ground. A mature wasabi root is firm, cylindrical, brown and green-skinned and tapered.
Banana Flowers
Exotic banana flowers are the red-orange to deep purple, pointed, compact heads at the tip end of a forming bunch of bananas. Each bud has large outer petals that protect groups of small white flowers
Seasons/Availability
Sunchokes can be available year round but my be in short supply during summer. 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.
| US Grant Hotel Main | San Diego CA | 619-232-3121 |
| Beaumont's | San Diego CA | 858-459-0474 |
| Georges at the Cove | San Diego CA | 858-454-4244 |
| Leroy's Kitchen & Lounge | Coronado CA | 619-522-6890 |
| Truluck's Seafood Steak and Crab House | San Diego CA | 858-453-2583 |
| Solace & the Moonlight Lounge | Encinitas CA | 760-753-2433 |
| Paradise Point Resort Baleen | San Diego CA | 858-490-6363 |
| Alchemy Restaurant | San Diego CA | 619-255-0616 |
| Heat Bar & Kitchen | San Diego CA | 619-546-4328 |
| JRDN Restaurant | San Diego CA | 858-270-5736 |
| Analog | San Diego CA | 619-233-1183 |
| J six | San Diego CA | 619-531-8744 |
| Hotel Del Coronado 1500 Restaurant | Coronado CA | 619-435-6611 |
| Roy's La Jolla | San Diego CA | 858-455-1616 |
| Pacifica Del Mar | Del Mar CA | 858-792-0505 |
| Lauberge Del Mar | Del Mar CA | 858-259-1515 |
| Rancho Valencia | Del Mar CA | 858-756-1123 |
| West Steak and Seafood | Carlsbad CA | 760-930-9100 |
| Tapenade | San Diego CA | 858-551-7500 |
| Wine Vault & Bistro | San Diego CA | 619-295-3939 |
| Bleu Boheme | San Diego CA | 619-255-4167 |
| Sessions Public | San Diego CA | 619-756-7715 |
| Burlap | San Diego CA | 858 369 5700 |
| Cucina Urbana | San Diego CA | 619-239-2222 |
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Sunchokes. One
is easiest, three is harder.| Apple Pie, Patis, & Pate |
|
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Morel Mushrooms |
| Mac & Cheese |
|
Artichoke Relish |
Recently Spotted
People have spotted Sunchokes using the Specialty Produce app for iPhone and Android.
Produce Spotting allows you to share your produce discoveries with your neighbors and the world! Is your market carrying green dragon apples? Is a chef doing things with shaved fennel that are out of this world? Pinpoint your location annonymously through the Specialty Produce App and let others know about unique flavors that are around them.
|
Whole Foods Market Near Lake Grove, New York, United States About 73 days ago, 4/06/13 Ocado Yorkshire Near Bradford, United Kingdom About 98 days ago, 3/11/13 |
