Preserving jerusalem artichokes

[possum]

I have just dug up three plants (out of several dozen) and I have a bigger crop from these 3 than I ever had from my whole planting back in the UK, obviously I have finally found something that does well here. I honestly thought the wind and the sea air (800metres to the sea) would wreck havock with them , but planting them in a block rather than in lines seems to have worked and none snapped off.
So from three plants I have about a bucket of huge artichokes (the biggest I have ever seen), some the size of baking potatoes.
Obviously the rest I will leave in the ground for at least another couple of months and they should be OK there. I have recipes for soup, stir fry, boiling, etc, but I am not going to be able to eat the lot unless I preserve some of them
I know you can pickle the smaller ones of them, I have a recipe for that
What is the best method for freezing?
Anyone have any other ways for preserving them?

I have never had the problem of having too many before.

[old tree man]

Good post possum i have planted artichokes myself this year and when i harvest them it would have been something i was going to ask , i shall keep a eye on this post with interest.

good luck and well done sounds like a bumper crop
all the best

Russ

[marshlander]

Did you find out about freezing these, possum? I've still got heaps to get through and OH is getting fed up with them!

[possum]

I did read that you should boil them for five mins before freezing.

However we had a feast of them last night - 3 dishes, here are the recipes, the pancake one was particularly good, might try making a load of those and freezing them, they don't have the strong artichoke flavour so your OH might like them

artichoke salad with a soy and lime dressing

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
25g/1oz butter
3 Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and chopped
4 baby beetroot, peeled and chopped
125g/4½oz/4½oz fillet steak, cut into strips
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ lime, juice only
½ small bunch rocket leaves (used parsley)
salt and freshly ground black pepper


Method
1. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and gently fry the artichokes and beetroot until they start to soften, about 6-7 minutes.
2. Add the beef strips and chilli flakes and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, until the beef is seared but still pink in the middle.
3. Stir in the soy sauce and lime juice, and fold in the rocket. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.

Artichoke cakes with caramelised onion

Ingredients
For the caramelised onion
1 tbsp olive oil
25g/1oz butter
½ red onion, finely sliced
½ tsp brown sugar
For the artichoke cakes
150g/5½oz grated Jerusalem artichoke
50g/2oz fresh peas, blanched
50g/2oz plain flour
1 free-range egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. To make the caramelised onion, heat the olive oil with the butter and cook the onion until soft.
2. Add the brown sugar and allow to caramelise.
3. To make the cakes, in a large bowl mix together the grated artichoke, peas, flour and egg, then season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Divide the mixture into three cakes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry each cake for one minute on each side until coloured.
5. Place in the oven and cook for five minutes or until cooked through.
6. Serve the cakes on a warm plate and spoon over some of the caramelised onion.


beetroot and artichoke rosti

Ingredients
For the fillet steak
125g/4½oz fillet steak
1 tbsp oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the beetroot and artichoke rösti
4 Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and grated
1 baby beetroot, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
25g/1oz butter
For the red wine sauce
100ml/3½fl oz red wine
50ml/2fl oz boiling water
beef stock cube


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the steak, tie up the fillet with string to hold it together. Rub the oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper into the meat.
3. Heat an ovenproof griddle pan until hot and sear the fillet steak on all sides for around 2-3 minutes. Transfer to the oven to cook for 5-6 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in a warm place.
4. For the beetroot and artichoke rösti, combine the grated artichoke and beetroot in a bowl and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Heat the oil and butter in a small pan, then pack in the grated artichoke and beetroot mixture. Allow to cook without turning or stirring for 5-6 minutes, until golden-brown underneath, then turn over and cook on the other side until golden-brown.
6. For the red wine sauce, heat the wine and thyme in a pan and simmer until reduced by half. Add the boiling water and the stock cube and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
7. For the chive cream, combine all of the ingredients, except the rocket, in a bowl.
8. To serve, place the rösti in the centre of a serving plate. Remove the string from the beef and place on top of the rösti. Pour over the red wine sauce, top with the chive cream and garnish with rocket leaves.

[red]

good grief.. must have been breezy in your house....

best way to preserve them I have found is to make soup.. then freeze that.

[possum]

I don't find that they have that effect on me, I know a lot do though.

[Jandra]

Seeing as they are a root vegetable, couldn't you just store them like carrots and beetroot and parstips in a bucket with slightly moist sand or cocopeat? Then you don't have to do a lot of work now in preparing them for freezing, they won't take up freezer space and you store them without it costing enery.

But, having said that, I don't have experience with them and so you shouldn't take my word for it.

Jandra

[hedgewitch]

Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes

1lb (450g) Jerusalem Artichokes
1 teaspoon salt
Peel of 1 lemon, cut in half inch strips
2 bay leaves (plus more, 1 for each jar)
10 fl oz (300ml) white wine vinegar

Peel the artichokes so that you are left with rounded pieces which are easy to slice when served. Put into salted water, bring to the boil and blanch for no more than 5 mins: they must not be cooked soft.

Put the lemon peel and bay leaves into the vinegar and boil for 5 mins. Drain the artichokes well and pack into sterilised jars. Put strips of lemon peel and a bay leaf in amongst them and cover with the cooled vinegar. Seal and keep for at least a week before opening.

This is a crunchy pickle goes well with most things.

[QuakerBear]

Mr. QB makes a rissotto with them. As long as you don't over cook them to start with this freezes very well and they retain a good texture when defrosted and reheated in the microwave.

[Stonehead]

Cook them and freeze them, or leave them in the ground. We grow a lot of jerusalem artichokes and they get very manky very fast if stored in any other way. We've tried keeping them in moist sand (huge white growths of fungus), in dry straw (shrivelled and mouldering), in hessian sacks (white fungus and rot), hanging in net bags (shrivelled and mouldy), and in clamps (gooey, rotten ooze).

If you leave them in the ground, cover them with straw and then add soil to hold the straw down they'll sail through frosts down to -15C without a problem. Dig them as you need them or when you need to move them to fresh ground.

If picking to eat them fresh, eat within 48 hours and keep them in a dark place during that time (otherwise they go dark).

To freeze them, peel, slice, blanch for three minutes, cool rapidly and freeze. Or cook them as part of meals and freeze the meals.

[PeterNZ]

they'll sail through frosts down to -15C

What is this what you call "frost"? And why is there a minus in front of the 15C???

Cheers

Peter

[MKG]

Ah, Peter, of course - they don't live in NZ. A frost is a small furry mammal related to the wild haggis (which is why they occur predominantly in Scotland). The numbers refer to the efficiency of their digestive systems. A 15C frost can eat an entire potato crop in one sitting. -15C frosts have a problem eating anything at all - hence the Jerusalem artichokes sailing through them.

[MatC]

Hello - I found this page while googling for pickled artichoke recipes, so naturally I’ve joined up!

I’m very glad of the recipe for pickling Jerusalem artichokes - my guess is that they will be much more digestible in that form. In my opinion, there can be few more potentially useful vegetables than this for anyone who’s trying to be “ish” - it’s only the wind problem, I think, which prevents them from becoming more popular. (Well, I say “only” ... some friends of mine, an extremely omnivorous and adventurous couple, were in such distress from their one and only attempt at eating Jerusalems that at one point they actually thought of calling in the doctor.)

I agree, incidentally, that the only way to store them is in the ground; although, having said that, I’m going to try drying some on my electric dehydrator.

What I was really looking for, however, was a recipe for pickling Chinese artichokes (aka Crosnes, or Japanese artichokes; Stachys affinis). I’ve been growing these for countless years, about as long as I’ve been growing Jerusalems, and every reference I’ve read to them mentions that they are eaten pickled but no one ever gives an actual recipe! Perhaps the Jerusalem recipe would do? They are both tubers, after all ... any other suggestions gladly received.

[Millymollymandy]

Welcome Mat C! I've seen crosne in the french supermarkets but never tried them. I hope you eventually find your recipe!

[MatC]

They’re well worth trying, Milly - tasty, crunchy, very nice - but even more worth growing. You’ll never grow an easier crop than Chinese artichokes, that’s for sure.