Welcome to the fourth Harvest of the Month: Sunchoke!

Sunchokes will be available at your school on Monday, February 8th.

What to do?

  1. Contact your teacher to schedule a time for your tasting.
  2. Check with your teacher if any students have food allergies.
  3. Take the Harvest of the Month home and prepare them for your tasting! There are many recipe ideas included in the handouts, but you can always keep it simple.
  4. Look over the curriculum and plan key education nuggets you think your class will enjoy.
  5. Return the green canvas bag the produce came in to the pick up location.

Resources

sunchoke diagram showing the tuber and nodeLet’s talk sunchokes

  • Would you try sunchokes raw, roasted, or mashed?
  • Can you guess what part of the plant we eat?
  • How many tubers can grow on one plant? (10–20!)

Reasons to eat

  • Sunchokes are tasty and packed with nutrients!
    • Fiber
    • Vitamin C
    • Iron
  • One cup provides one-quarter of your daily iron.

Botanical facts

  • Scientific name: Daucus Carota subsp. sativus
  • Family: Apiaceae
  • Classification: Root Vegetable

Produce tips

  • Look for smooth, clean tubers without soft spots, green areas, or sprouts.
  • Store sunchokes in the refrigerator vegetable bin, loosely wrapped in a paper towel, for up to one month.

How do sunchokes grow?

  • Full sun and well-drained soil help sunchokes grow.
  • Edible tubers are ready in 110–150 days.
  • They grow best from tubers, not seeds.
  • Plant when the soil reaches at least 50 degrees. Early spring works, or late fall in mild climates.
  • Harvest in late fall or early spring. A light frost can make them sweeter.
  • They are available year-round, with prime season from October–April.

Sunchoke fun facts

  • Native Americans cultivated sunchokes as food.
  • They are root vegetables in the sunflower family.
  • Horses and pigs enjoy them too!
  • They can grow wild and sometimes take over gardens.
  • You can eat them raw, roasted, or mashed.
  • Jerusalem artichoke is another name for sunchoke. They are tubers from a sunflower species native to eastern North America.
  • In the early 1600s, European colonists learned about them and sent tubers to Europe.
  • California specialty farms grow about 100 acres. California growers have farmed sunchokes for decades.

Sunchoke recipes

Sunchoke Sun Chips

  • cleaned sunchokes
  • a little olive oil
  • a sprinkle of salt or mild seasoning.

Directions:

  1. An adult slices the sunchokes thinly.
  2. Toss with oil and seasoning.
  3. An adult roasts until lightly crisp and golden.
    Ask an adult for help with slicing and the oven.