What is the best way to store sun chokes? (Jerusalem Artichokes)

[GrannyCarol]

I dug all my lovely sun chokes (my first year planting them) and now I am not sure how best to store them. I have two large baskets full. I don't have a root cellar, I do have a large, unheated garage. It gets below zero part of the winter, so unprotected in the garage may be a problem. I have a spare fridge outside - it can freeze when it's really cold and there may be enough room in it for them. I also have a grooming shop that I keep warm, but not hot (between 50 and 60, except when I'm working).

So, what would you all recommend?

[nebula5]

Do you plan to eat all those chokes? If you're saving some to plant, you could probably put them in the ground now.
Confession- I planted a pint of Jerusalem Artichokes about 15 years ago. I have used them very seldom, and see them more as a food source if TSHTF. I do nothing with them, at all. They multiply underground, and the plot has grown to an area about 15 feet by 10 feet over the years.
They are certainly winter hardy here (Zone 5.)The flowers are pretty in the fall and smell like chocolate.

[GrannyCarol]

Yes, I plan to eat many of them and to share them with my family. I've tried them and find they are fine as any root vegetable. I've roasted them with potatoes and onion and that was good... I've mashed them in my favorite mashed dish of mixed root veggies, boiled and lightly mashed with sour cream, butter, salt pepper and garlic. They are supposed to be good as fries and chips too, though I don't often do that with any root vegetable. We eat a lot of skillet dinners with meat, veggies in chunks, canned tomatoes and spices during the winter, they'll be great in that. Raw they have a crisp texture like a radish, but not much flavor, I'll try them in salads. Cooked they have a very smooth texture and a mild artichoke flavor that is very good - I'm going to try them mashed or roasted by themselves too.

I've read that they are a low glycemic index starch, very good for regulating blood sugars and my husband is an insulin dependent diabetic. I find that potatoes and rice won't maintain his blood sugars very well and usually mix them with something like beans or yams that will. I'm hoping these will help to fill the gap.

As for putting them in the ground, I think that's a good idea for next year. I have a spot they can go in, if I beat the frost enough that the ground is workable. Otherwise they'll go in next spring. I put six of them in this spring and have a nice harvest. Now that I know how they grow, I think I can put them in the back of a flower bed and not waste garden space on them. Mine were very tall - should make a good screen.

[SquashNut]

we harvest them as we eat them. They shrivel up pretty fast. Maybe you could layer them in damp sand to stop them from shriveling out.

[7thswan]

I'd do as Squashnut says. They will go bad very fast. You should plant what you want to come up next year, now.

[suitcase_sally]

I put a paper towel in the bottom of a gallon size baggie and put them in there, then in the crisper drawer. They keep about a year like that. They will put off a lot of moisture at first, just change the paper towel. After awhile they even out. Like keeping carrots.

[GrannyCarol]

Thanks for the responses. I can't leave them in the ground and still use them this winter - it will freeze so that I can't dig them in a month or so. Besides, I already dug them... hehe

I will go ahead and plant next year's crop, though I know I got mine this spring and they were nice and fresh. Perhaps they overwintered in the ground and were dug in the spring to sell? Maybe I can find the original email from the party I bought them from.

I have several bags of them in the crisper drawer in my outside fridge, I guess that's the best I can do. I figure if they get soft, there's always soups and stews.

If I plant some now then I'll have some next year, even if I lose most of this year's crop. Learning curve I guess! We may be eating a lot of them over the next short while.

[gobug]

I just harvested my first crop of sunchokes. It only took about 3 or 4 days after harvest until they started to become a little soft, darkened, and shriveled. I put them into a bucket of water. Within 2 days they were all firm again. The bucket of water has sit upon the patio and the night time temperature was a bit below freezing. That did not appear to bother the sunchokes at all.

I also investigated how to store them. I read that in the ground with some mulch on top will keep them fresh and available all through the winter.

I only dug out about half of this years' crop. That was more than a 5 gallon bucket. My plot of sunchokes is only about 3 foot in diameter. I have oregano, chives, and thyme nearby, so I am interested in seeing if the sunchokes overwhelm the other things.

Good luck. Please post your results so we can all gain from your experiences.
gary

[GrannyCarol]

Sure! Right now I have a batch on the kitchen counter as I washed them all with running water and a soft brush and put them on racks to dry a bit before storage. The rest are just in plastic bags like you get groceries in, loosely tied at the top to keep in humidity, but not keep them from breathing. We'll see how that goes.

I've cooked them as part of dinner for three nights now. Twice roasted with EVOO, sea salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and a variety of other root veggies. I find they roast up a lot faster then the potatoes and yams and those are faster then the beets - I'll stagger them next time and start with the beets, etc. I also put in onions and added dried onion and garlic flakes to the EVOO that I tossed them in. Loved it. I tossed my pork loins in that EVOO too (after the root veggies, of course!). Once I boiled them with potatoes, yams and carrots (about equal parts) and just mashed them all together. This mash I don't whip up, but leave a bit chunky, so you experience the different flavors as you eat it. I do add sour cream and butter and salt and pepper. You could use yogurt if you were concerned about the calories.

So far I've enjoyed them. The first night I had the gas reaction that many talk about, but I know its a new sugar for my tummy, so I am figuring that just eating small amounts for a week or so will get my digestive tract on track.

There's always Beeno!

[Patt]

Originally Posted by SquashNut

we harvest them as we eat them. They shrivel up pretty fast. Maybe you could layer them in damp sand to stop them from shriveling out.

Same here. I agree on the damp sand too. They go bad pretty quickly once they are dug up.

[Dexter]

They don't store as well as potatoes indoors.
In a cold climate I figure dumping a big pile of leaves/hay on them. In winter scraping off the snow, then peeling up the leaves to get at them as needed. A bit of a pain, but bringing in a couple bags every 2 weeks is worth the fresh produce.

[ganoosh]

I store mine in an unused ice chest or plastic tub layered with damp sand on the back porch in a shady area. Gets below freezing most nights and have had them frozen solid in the sand with no ill effects. Only issue i have had is if I don't eat them all by spring time, they start sprouting and push open the top of the cooler.

[suitcase_sally]

Originally Posted by GrannyCarol

I don't have a root cellar, I do have a large, unheated garage. It gets below zero part of the winter, so unprotected in the garage may be a problem. I have a spare fridge outside - it can freeze when it's really cold and there may be enough room in it for them.

It's my understanding that freezing actually enhances the flavor. If you have an old cooler, you can just put them in there, perhaps with some damp sand, and you'll be able to get to them when you need some.

[GrannyCarol]

I do have a good sized styrofoam box and a lot of pine shavings for bedding... that might work great. I'll check into that tomorrow or the next day.

[ronbre]

you should store them in the ground, if you dug them and aren't going to use them immediately, i suggest putting them in a barrel or something with some dirt over them to keep them fresh and put them back outside..they shouldn't have been all dug at one time.

[roachhill]

I read somewhere you can buy sunchoke flour at health food stores. Has anybody tried to convert their sunchokes to flour, if so how and how did you use the flour in baking?

[texican]

I read where they're best stored in the ground. Unfortunately, the termites read the same thing... and ate mine.

[manygoatsnmore]

Darn, Texican, you've been teachin' your termites to read?


Sometimes I crack myself up.

[texican]

Originally Posted by manygoatsnmore

Darn, Texican, you've been teachin' your termites to read?


Sometimes I crack myself up.

Reckon it's my fault... I cleaned out a wall of my library, and used several thousand old govt. document books (Environmental Impact Statements, etc.) as 'mulch' around some fruit trees up in the orchard... to build up the soil. Didn't think the termites would take time to actually read what they were eating. Just had a jolt! They might get idea'r's and want to become govt. bureaucrats... NO!!!!