And this is the harvest. I don't know what they cost in stores--never see them. But in one of the seed catalogs, starter tubers were $8.95 a lb. We ended with 40 lbs.

Wow! That's impressive!
How will you prepare them??

Sharon

We like them raw, sliced into salads, or stirfried. We've never had so many before. Don't know how we will prepare them. I may try steaming them with butter and garlic, salt and pepper.

Dorothy, I once baked a couple. It took a while, and they never did turn real soft. They tasted absolutely WONDERFUL! So much so, I gorged on them. But then, a couple of hours later I wondered if a person might die from gas!

Still, that might just be be. If you sliced them into a stir fry with no ill effect, you might get away with simply steaming them.

I boil mine, through out the water, and boil them once more, before eating them. That seems to help with the flatulence problem. One time I took the time, after this, to slice them and do French fries. They were DELICIOUS. However, that process was rather time consuming.

Without doing two changes of water, I have simply chopped them into a stew, which would then simmer on the wood stove all day. They are great this way, and I don't believe they cause me any problems at all. Also, for some reason, I have never had any gas problem when I eat them raw.

We haven't dug ours. But I suspect we will have a very good harvest. The rodents didn't bother our garden very much this year.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I haven't harvested mine either and I had some really big plants.......and I hope I DON'T get 40 pounds. LOL

will these overwinter in the OKC/norman area. Looking to branch out the varieties I am growing at the OU community garden and if anyone around has some extra tubers let me know

Those chokes are gorgeous! That is an amazing harvest. Just, wow.

Might beano help forestall the gas problem? I think I only ate jerusalem artichokes once, a long time ago.

Hey collegekid, " if anyone around has some extra tubers let me know," of course we have extras! ;) I'd be happy to send you some. Send my your mailing address and I'll mail you enough for a 15' row. Just send me back the cost of postage after you receive the package. You can plant them any time you can get them in the ground.

George
Tahlequah, OK

P.S. Last Saturday I dug up three fork fulls on the outside edge of the root system of just one plant. That gave me nearly two gallons of roots! Here's a picture of one of the larger ones.

George beat me to it and so generously. I was going to offer a half dozen for postage. If anyone else wants some, email me.

George, we have several like that too. Do you plant big ones like that whole or break them up or do you plant smaller ones. We planted smaller ones last year because that was what we were given. Then after we dug we replanted small ones and mulched the tub with leaves. Hope they overwinter there and come up next spring.

Wow, what a great harvest, Dorothy! I love growing plants in molasses feed tubs for many reasons, and excluding soil-dwelling pests is chief among them. I have some beautiful orange molasses feed tubs just like yours, but most of mine are black. In the past I have had some that were blue and some that were pink, though their color fades to almost white or beige after a couple of years in the sun.

I've often thought that I could garden almost completely in molasses feed tubs and other large containers.

George, The rodents were down here eating everything they could find this past garden season, so I guess they needed a change of scene. At least the groundhogs didn't travel this far south in their endless quest for garden domination. We raised many wonderful crops this year, but chief among them was a huge crop of voles. I was irritated by all the damage they did, but at the same time, I was relieved they only were voles, and not an army of grasshoppers, squash bugs or stink bugs.

Apparently sunchokes love our climate, y'all, which is good since so many other plants can struggle here with the all-too-frequent droughts and the sometimes insanely high summer temperatures.

Maybe 2014 will be one of those good garden years like 2004, and all the harvests will be beautiful and abundant. It doesn't hurt to have hope and optimism as one calendar year winds down and a new year waits in the wings, right?

Dawn

macmex & mulberryknob I'll be happy to take 2-3 lbs of these if you can spare them and will reimburse postage. I have a friend that wants some as well so the two of us will share whats available - about 3 lbs max should be enough. Give me a shout out to let me know how I can get my address to you - I'm new to this forum .

I like the post on containerizing these guys as I've heard they can run wild, I have a problem with weeds around my scallions that have naturalized and that garden area is a mess! Plus I'm a planting fool and even with a 40x80' veggie garden seem to be running out of space....

Dan, send me your mailing address, okay? I'll get them to you within a week or so. I've been digging them lately. Soon, they will start sprouting.

George

Oops! I just realized that houzz doesn't have a way of sending messages to individuals! E-mail me at kg8da(at)yahoo.com (you need to put the correct symbol in there).

I would be happy to mail a shoebox full to the spring fling. Paula should still have my email address, I think. I used to have her mailing address but don't now.

I harvested some this year. I'm pretty certain I have at least 40 lbs. I dipped the shovel in three times for 6lbs worth. They're delish sliced very thin and fried. Taste like gourmet chips.

Then, an hour later ................................. LOLOL

Can't say George didn't warn you.

Boil them, in a change of water (two boils). That should make the digestive part better ;)

Thank you! There are SO many. I hate to have something so tasty go to waste. I will do this.

I've also noticed that I can use them, in the place of potatoes, in a stew that is slow cooked. They never cause us any problem if they're in a stew which has been cooked over a long period of time.

Stew would be a good place for them. It is comforting to know that food is right there under the ground even in winter. In the spring I will relocate some of the tubers along the fence line and let them go.

Rich in iron, potassium and Vitamin C