Magnificent plant, Helianthus tuberosus saved loads of people during wars, easy to grow in your garden or forage for her near water courses. It doesn’t matter where you get it, as long as you do :).
As a veggie plant is cultivated for its sweet tubers , that can be eaten raw, boiled, cooked in the oven, chips , purée…. whatever floats your boat .
I was saying ”as a veggie” because there are many other reasons for what you can cultivate Jerusalem artichoke, such as: medicinal, animal food, as a way to protect your crops from wind and to slow down the water evaporation from the soil, thus forming a favorable microclimate for Solanaceae family and other sensitive plants to grow.
Every part of this plant is usable, even the stocks ( when they are dried you can use it for fire, who grows large quantities makes pellets out of it).
Medicinal properties: over 22% dried substances, 1.6% protein 0.2% fat, 1.1% cellulose, and loads of inuline -13% ( a sugar like substance that our body doesn’t decompose, so it’s very sweet but doesn’t affect you in any way, good news especially for people who suffer from diabetes). You can also find insuline syrup in commerce, or try to make your own, so you can sweeten your cakes too.
Be careful when you start to eat them. It’s not poisonous or something but can give you some tummy issues. Best start slowly, 1-2 tubers a day then after a week increase the amount ( this is just from my experience).
Garden and Orchard 