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When I was a kid, my mother often used to add sliced raw jerusalem artichokes to our salads. I have no idea why. She doesn’t do it any more, 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 real artichokes that we kids fought over at the dinner table. My kid’s mind decided that they didn’t grow very good artichokes in Jerusalem.
What are Jerusalem Artichokes?
Hah! 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”.)
“Jerusalem” is thought to have evolved from the Italian name for the plant, “girasole” for sunflower.
Why “artichoke”? If my mom had only cooked them, then that part of the mystery would have been solved for me. Cooked, they taste surprisingly like artichokes. Yum!
A traditional and wonderfully easy way to prepare these chokes is as a soup. If you like the taste of artichokes, I urge you to try your hand at making this soup with jerusalem artichokes. This is lick-the-bowl good.
Word to the wise. Sunchokes are known for … well, how can I say it politely… causing flatulence, especially when raw. In fact, Hank calls 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.
Eh hem, although I’m sure I’m risking telling you Too Much Information, I had no particular gaseous issue with this soup. Thank goodness, because I can’t wait to make it again.
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 pounds jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 quart chicken stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarian option, and gluten-free stock if cooking gluten-free)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
1 Sauté the onions, celery, then garlic: Heat the butter in a soup pot over medium-high heat and cook the onions and celery until soft, about 5 minutes. Do not brown them. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Sprinkle with salt.
2 Add jerusalem artichokes and stock: Add the jerusalem artichokes and the chicken stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, covered, until the jerusalem artichokes begin to break down, 45 minutes to an hour.
3 Purée the soup: Using an immersion blender or upright blender, purée the soup. If using an upright blender, fill the blender bowl up only to a third of capacity at a time, if the soup is hot, and hold down the lid while blending. Alternately, you can push the soup through the finest grate on a food mill, or push it through a sturdy sieve. Add salt to taste.
Sprinkle with freshly grated black pepper to serve.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
I added carrots, ginger and a smoky spice.
Also used an immersion blender and it turned out sweet, smooth, and yummy.
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I browned the onions and used black garlic – but oooooh so good.
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Loved the soup. Tasty.
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How do you peel them within 15 minutes?
Hi Julia, are you frustrated with the time it takes to peel the Jerusalem artichokes? Small things like that can be tedious. I wish I had a tip for making it faster! In the meantime, we’ll reconsider our prep time. Thanks for your comment.
I sure couldn’t and didn’t want to lose too much with the knobs and crevices. I ended up with some brown still on . not going to worry… just making tjis for the first time right now. hope it’s good. was thinking some acid like lemon would bea good addition at the end.
Fabulous soup! I topped mine off with a generous amount of black and cayenne peppers. Jerusalem artichokes are mentioned in Edgar Cayce readings as a remedy for diabetes and author of Medical Medium books claim they protect the liver from illness. Happy, healthy eating!
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Hi Terri, that’s so interesting, thanks for sharing!