Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are a funny-looking tuber with a delicate, artichoke-like flavor, and they have been growing in popularity in recent years, popping up at farmers markets and on restaurant menus around the country. But before you go on a sunchoke binge, you should know its unofficial nickname: the Fartichoke.
Bon Appétit discovered the sunchoke's bad reputation while talking to chef René Redzepi of Noma restaurant in Denmark. Redzepi never serves the tuber raw because inulin, the carbohydrate found in sunchokes, can cause serious gas and bloating — hence the nickname.
But before you write off sunchokes entirely, know that sensitivity to inulin varies from person to person and not all sunchokes contain the same amount of inulin.
Specifically, the inulin content of a sunchoke might depend on its size, or how many shoots it puts out, and the effects of the carb (which breaks down to fructose in the gut) is a lot more noticeable if you're a person with genetic fructose issues. If you've noticed that apples, for instance, get things moving and shaking down below, sunchokes are probably not for you.
When in doubt, take it slow. And maybe skip the big bowl of roasted sunchokes when you're serving dinner to guests.
• Read more: The Dark Side of Sunchokes at Bon Appétit
Related: Use Caution When Eating Escolar
(Image: Lilyana Vynogradova/Shutterstock)
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This made me think of a scene in Claude Berri's beautiful movie The Two of Us: during the war good food was scarce, and they were on a steady diet of sunchokes. The little boy eats them hungrily, one piece after another. I hope he didn't get a stomach ache later!
The funny thing is that inulin is also what they add to that new "high fiber" yogurt. It's really just a marketing scheme that gives you gas.
Oh, this is totally serious stuff, funny as it seems. It took us a couple times to diagnose the sunchokes as the culprit (in the meantime ruining several dishes for us psychologically). The results were very disturbing- extremely distended abdomens and never-ending gas for at least 14 hours. If you've never tried them, DON'T do so with guests. It's a shame too, as they are quite tasty.
I culture them along with cabbage and other vegetables to make sauerkraut. This seems to get rid of the problem since the insulin provides food for the lactic bacteria :-)
You can boil them with some potatos, the starch in potatos "neutralize" the inulin. Or if you prefer add a half teaspoon of baking soda in the water you use to boil them. It work's for us.