The Jerusalem Artichoke is a prolific and hardy plant that has many benefits. It is beautiful, filling, and promotes good health.
What is it?
The Jerusalem Artichoke is a species of sunflower in the Aster/Daily family. It is native to the Northeastern United States and Canada. It is a hardy plant that offers a variety of nutrition and medicinal benefits.
Plant Identification
Much like other sunflowers, the Jerusalem artichoke can grow to be quite tall, up to 10 feet. The flowers are a beautiful yellow. Flower heads can be as wide as 4 inches in diameter. Leaves along this plant range from narrow and hairy towards the top to foot-long large leaves towards the bottom of the plant. This plant has an edible root or tuber. Just picture if ginger and potato had a baby. There are color variations ranging from white to brown to red or purple. I have only appreciated the paler brown to white variations in Pennsylvania.
What part of it do you eat?
The tuber of the Jerusalem Artichoke is the edible part. It is generally harvested in the fall and winter seasons. It can be eaten raw or cooked. You can peel it or leave the skin intact. If you boil it, you can slip the peel off fairly easily, much like a beet. However, unlike a beet, you only want to boil the Jerusalem Artichoke for 10-15 minutes. After that, it risks getting rubbery.
Jerusalem Artichoke Benefits and Properties
- Contains carotenes, B vitamins, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron
- Contains inulin
- Nourishing to the lungs
- Supportive of the digestive system
- Supports healthy blood glucose levels
- Supportive of the immune system
- Stops RSV replication and supports healthy immune response
Jerusalem Artichoke Benefits: Raw
Raw Jerusalem Artichokes contain lots of inulin. Inulin is touted for helping to regulate blood glucose (sugar) levels and promote the growth of good bacteria in the gut. How does that happen?
After you eat something sugary or starchy, the levels of glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream rise. As these levels rise, your body engages in several processes to manage the sugar levels. The pancreas produces insulin. The insulin brings the sugar into the body’s cells to feed those cells. The liver stores excess sugar as glycogen.
With diabetes, there can be problems with any of these mechanisms that are involved in utilizing or storing the sugar. One of the strategies to managing diabetes is to reduce the amount of readily available sugar in the blood. Because inulin is not broken down easily by the body, it does not cause the same rise in the blood sugar. Whereas something starchy, like potatoes or pasta, can be broken down into simple sugars causing a spike in blood sugar.
The important thing to remember here is that we are talking about RAW Jerusalem Artichokes. The inulin is changed when it has been cooked or stored for a long time.
Some sources tout that the Jerusalem Artichoke can also stimulate insulin production and reduce the need for insulin.
Inulin is a prebiotic fiber that does not get absorbed or effectively broken down in the stomach or small intestine. When it reaches the large intestine (colon) it is fermented and promotes the growth of the bifidobacteria. Gut bacteria is directly linked to immune health so inulin also supports a healthy immune system. Winning!
Raw Ideas
- Shredded on a salad
- Chopped and used as a replacement for water chestnuts
- Combine with apples, nuts, and cucumbers
Jerusalem Artichoke Benefits: Cooked
This is a great way to substitute the starchy potato in your diet. You can boil or bake the Jerusalem Artichoke and serve it as a side dish. You can also use it as a replacement in your favorite mashed potato recipe.
You may recall that raw Jerusalem Artichoke has a high inulin content. Hot water dissolves inulin. Therefore, cooking this tuber causes the simple sugars to be more available in the bloodstream.
To balance that effect, you can eat the Jerusalem Artichoke with butter or cream. (Favorite mashed potato recipe … wink, nudge). That adjustment allows for the gradual absorption of the simple sugars in the bloodstream.
If you cook the Jerusalem Artichoke too long, it can become rubbery. If you peel it and expose it to air, it will eventually turn black. Just remember to add some lemon juice when cooking to prevent that oxidative change.
Getting Used to the Good Stuff
As your body gets used to new foods, you may experience some digestive unpleasantness.
Upset Stomach
Uncooked or raw, it can cause some digestive upset. This can happen any time you alter your gut flora (bacteria in your gut). Start with small amounts, especially when trying this raw.
Artichoke or Fartichoke?
The Jerusalem Artichoke can also cause flatulence (gas). In 1617, an Englishman described it as causing a “filthy, loathsome, stinking wind within the body”. The windiness is diminished through the cooking process.
Sources
Apelian, N. & Davis, C. (2020). The lost book of herbal remedies: The healing power of plant medicine.
Black, J. (2006). The anti-inflammation diet and recipe book. Hunter House, Inc.
Emery, C. (2019). The encyclopedia of country living: The original manual for living off the land and doing it yourself. Sasquatch Books.
Fallon, S. (2001). Nourishing traditions: The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. (2nd ed.). NewTrends Publishing Inc.
Pitchford, P. 2002. Healing with whole foods: Asian traditions and modern nutrition. (3rd ed.). North Atlantic Books.
Rossi, M., Corradini, C., Amaretti, A., Nicolini, M., Pompei, A., Zanoni, S. et al. (2005). Fermentation of fructooligosaccharides and inulin by bifidobactera: A comparative study of pure and fecal cultures. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71(10), 6150-6158. https://doi.org/10.1128%2FAEM.71.10.6150-6158.2005
Wan, X., Liu, Z., Wang, Y., Yin, Y., Cai, X, Gao, L. et al. (2022). Antiviral activity against respiratory syncytial virus of polysaccharide from Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.). Biomed Research International. https://doi.org/10.1155%2F2022%2F1809879
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