I will be giving four presentations in Missoula on November 9th, 10th and 11th at the Inland Northwest Permaculture Conference. See the full details here.
By PAUL WHEATON
It is hard not to be awestruck by this plant, which is at once beautiful and generous in its supply of edible tubers.
In fact, I think Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem Artichokes) are one of the best homesteader crops, especially for those wishing to be self-sustaining. They winter well in the soil (important here in Montana) and produce a lot of calories, so if you get hungry in the middle of winter, there’s plenty out there even if you haven’t done anything with them for five years.
On top of that, they make an excellent pig food – all year. Sepp Holzer acutally pushes perennial rye and sunchokes (raw or cooked) as the core crop for chicken and pig feeds.
If chickens follow pigs in a paddock shift rotation, pigs will often pull up sunchokes (and other tubers) and leave scraps for the chickens. 
And, in case that isn’t enough, Sunchokes also create awesome privacy screens, grow in many different soil conditions, and are low maintenance and perennial.
Cooking is key as they are high in inulin (indigestible to humans) and have low caloric value unless/until they are slow-cooked.
I recorded a podcast with Norris Thomlinson, an urban farmer in Portland, Oregon. Norris speaks about “sunchoke farts” and the cooking process required to make these tubers digestible. He also explains that it is possible to do a sunchoke polyculture by sort of a three sisters combo: sunchokes, ground nuts, and chinese artichoke.
Storage is a no-brainer – you just leave the sunchokes outside until you are ready to use them!
I shot a video that shows several different growers sharing their experiences with this crop. Missoula’s own Helen Athowe starts it off – enjoy!
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Paul Wheaton is is the tyrannical ruler of two on-line communities. One is about permaculture and one is about software engineering. There is even one for Missoula. Paul has written several permaculture articles starting with one on lawn care that he presented at the MUD Project 17 years ago, including articles on raising chickens, cast iron and diatomaceous earth. Paul also regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts. In his spare time, Paul has plans for world domination and is currently shopping for a hollowed out volcano in the Missoula area, with good submarine access.
See all of Paul’s contributions to Make it Missoula here.
Love the tubers but beware! Never plant them someplace you ever want to get rid of them. They also multiply like crazy…good in the right location…bad in the not right location.
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How well do they grow in hard compacted soil?
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Amazingly well
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Thanks for the tip about the importance of thorough cooking. We tried steaming them, and they were mushy inside and not very appealing. Then we tried baking them, but they still were not very appealing. We will try cooking them longer and see how they turn out.
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Some folks like them cooked just like potatoes. Some don’t care for them.
I’ve always liked them every way I tried them.
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They make a very nice soup – google for recipes.
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Sunchokes are best used to make alcohol to put in cars and tractors. They are native to US. Not really a good thing to eat. See Alcohol Can Be a Gas.
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We had sunchokes in our CSA box. We tried to like them…we really did. It just didn’t happen. The texture was all right, but the taste didn’t work for us. It’s not strongly flavored, but over time, we started to really hate it. I guess we won’t be very good homesteaders!
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I got starter plants at my local farmer’s market. After 2 years in the ground they are spreading out nicely and “taking over” the corner of my yard where they are planted (which is what I want). Going to dig some up soon and try them out – a very timely article!
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Thank you for taking some time to write “Paul Wheaton on the Amazing Sunchoke”.
Thanks a ton once more ,Nellie
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“Paul Wheaton on the Amazing Sunchoke” was
a perfect post. However, if it had much more pictures it should be even more beneficial.
Thanks ,Mckinley
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I personally speculate precisely why you labeled this specific posting,
“Paul Wheaton on the Amazing Sunchoke”. In either case I appreciated the article!
Thanks for your time,Enriqueta
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