Jerusalem artichoke is a tall, hairy, native sunflower with edible tubers and great crop potential. It is a much-branching perennial that often grows in dense colonies, statewide. It is not an artichoke, nor is it native to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem artichoke is a very hairy, tall, much-branching perennial, often occurring in dense colonies.
The flowerheads are sunflowers, with 12–20 ray florets, to 3 inches across, frequently with a distinct chocolate scent.
Blooms August–October.
The leaves are important for identification: they are mostly opposite (but alternate in the upper third of the plant); the leaves are also long (to 9 inches), lance-shaped, prominently 3-veined, coarsely toothed, long-tapered at the base with winged petioles (the bases of the leaf stems grasp the plant stem with "wings"), and rough-hairy above, downy below.
The roots are potato-like, edible tubers.
- Jerusalem artichoke is not a true artichoke (artichokes are in the thistle subfamily).
- Also, it is not from Jerusalem. The name is likely a corruption of the Italian girasole (sunflower). This plant is not from the Middle East; it is native to North America, including Missouri.
Similar species: This species hybridizes with other sunflowers, making identification difficult. Not counting hybrids, there are 16 species of Helianthus recorded for Missouri.
For an overview of Missouri’s sunflowers, visit their group page.
Height: 3–10 feet.
Scattered to common throughout the state.
Habitat and Conservation
Banks of streams, rivers, and spring branches, bottomland forests, rich upland forests, sloughs, margins of ponds and lakes, and moist depressions of upland prairies; also pastures, fencerows, railroads, roadsides, and disturbed areas.
This species frequently forms colonies, spreading through its roots and from seeds. In cultivation, new plants will arise from small portions of tubers left in the ground.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower. Cultivated worldwide for its edible tubers and as livestock feed.
Human Connections
The crisp, fleshy tubers are edible and taste something like nuts and artichokes. Raw, the texture is something like water chestnuts or jicama. Cooked, they soften quite a bit. They can be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled:
- Grate raw tubers into salads (the ray flowers are edible, too, and are a lovely addition)
- Pickle crisp, raw tubers in vinegar, lemon juice, or wine.
- Boil and mash them the way you would potatoes (or include them in a dish of mashed potatoes)
- Roast the tubers as a side
- Include them in soups or meat stews
- For more information, read Nadia Navarrete-Tindall's sunchoke tips and recipes at the Grow Native website.
This species has strong potential as a pollinator-friendly specialty crop. Native gardening enthusiasts point out that you can control the spread of these aggressively spreading plants by harvesting them as food.
Tubers are harvested a few weeks after the flowers have faded, with each plant yielding about 3 or 4 pounds of tubers each year.
Native Americans cultivated the plant long before Europeans arrived.
In the 1600s, this species became a fashionable food in Europe, and it was commonly cultivated. (The Italians called it girasole articiocco, or "artichoke sunflower"; later, "Jerusalem" became the English name thanks to a mispronunciation of girasole.)
Sunchokes, which are hybrids with annual sunflower, became quite popular in the 1980s, and if you find them in grocery stores, this hybrid is probably what you are getting.
Jerusalem artichoke tubers don't contain starch. Instead, their sweet storage carbohydrate is inulin, which is mostly not digested in our digestive tracts.
- Inulin is extracted and used commercially in yogurts and other foods as a diabetic-friendly fat substitute and bulking agent.
In the 1980s, when Midwest farmers were struggling financially, Jerusalem artichoke was promoted as a crop for ethanol production (the way corn ethanol is grown now).
- Farmers from 31 US states and 3 Canadian provinces were persuaded to invest more than 25 million dollars into seeds.
- The enterprise failed spectacularly, and the owners of the company behind this scheme were ultimately prosecuted as con artists.
- Unfortunately, this episode caused US farmers to lose confidence in Jerusalem artichoke cultivation in general.
- For more on this episode, check out Joseph Amato, The Great Jerusalem Artichoke Circus: The Buying and Selling of the Rural American Dream.
Ecosystem Connections
Sunflowers provide nectar and pollen to a great variety of insects, plus a hunting ground for spiders, assassin bugs, and other predators of the many insects attracted to the flowers.
When the flowers are spent, birds and mammals, including finches and rodents, relish the sunflower seeds.
