These starchy tubers, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, make a satisfying creamy soup.
When I was a kid, my mother often used to add sliced raw Jerusalem artichokes to our salads.
I have no idea why.
Elise Bauer
She doesn’t do it anymore and hasn’t for years.
At the time, I just thought they were weird looking and didn’t taste like much.
Nothing at all like the realartichokesthat we kids fought over at the dinner table.
Elise Bauer
My childhood mind decided that they didn’t grow very good artichokes in Jerusalem.
Why Are Sunchokes Called Jerusalem Artichokes?
Well, mystery solved.
Turns out Jerusalem artichokes are neither artichokes, nor are they from Jerusalem.
They’re tubers, native of North America, and the plant is related to and resembles sunflowers.
(In fact, these days they are often called sunchokes.)
Why “artichoke”?
Cooked, they taste surprisingly like artichokes.
A traditional and wonderfully easy way to prepare these chokes is as a soup.
This is lick-the-bowl good.
In fact,Hankcalls them “fartichokes”.
(He grows them in his garden; he should know.)
He tells me that slow cooking them, like this soup preparation, greatly reduces the problem.
Thank goodness, because I can’t wait to make it again.
However, if you wish, you could peel them first.
The acid hydrolyzes the inulin and turns it into sugars.
The same goes for the leftover soup.
Elise says she freezes this soup all of the time and it freezes great.
She also likes to add a little pesto to it if she has it.
More Soup Recipes to Try!
Add the onions and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Do not brown them.
Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute.
Add the sunchokes and your choice of stock to the pot and bring to a simmer.
Using an immersion blender or upright blender, puree the soup.
Hold down the lid while blending.
Add more salt to taste.
Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper before serving.
