Jerusalem Artichokes: Tasty Tubers, Pretty Flowers©

John Parkinson, English herbalist and Botanist described the sunchoke in 1729 as being widely grown and having grown very common in London. In 1720, Edward Phillips defined it as a plant near of the same nature as potatoes.

Most people know that the Jerusalem Artichoke, aka sunchoke, Canadian truffle, or potatoes of Canada, or the French is “topinambour” an American plant eaten by Native Americans, colonists, and which continued in use until roughly after the Great Depression when it fell mostly out of favor, becoming viewed as poor man’s food by those who lived off what they could harvest around their homes and farms.

Nehemiah Grew, M.D. and Fellow of the Royal Society published in London, “IDEA of a Phytological History Propounded. Together with a Continuation of the Anatomy of Vegetables Particularly Professed upon Roots and an Account of the Vegetation of Roots”, in 1673 in which he included the Jerusalem Artichoke which came to England from the Americas.

“The Jerusalem artichoke is a hardy tuberous-rooted perennial plant, a species of the family of Helianthus or Sun-flower, growing with a cluster of large irregular, tuberous, fleshy roots, which are the eatable parts; in best perfection in autumn and winter, till the spring; shoots up tall single stems annually in the spring, several feet high, furnished with large broad leaves, and crowned by a smallish, radiated, yellow, compound flower; is raised by cuttings of the roots, or whole; planted in the spring, one crop annually, in rows a yard distance; and the roots attain perfection the same year, about September or October, continuing good all winter till April or May, then begin to sprout, waste, and decay.” – Abercrombie, John. “The Complete Kitchen Gardener, and Hot-Bed Forcer”. 1789.

Explorer and French colonist Samuel de Champlain took the plant to France and Lewis and Clark ate them on their grand exploration.

In 1847, a gentleman shipped four bushels of the tubers to the editor of “The Farmer and Mechanic” magazine hoping they could be shipped to Ireland for planting to alleviate the suffering caused from the potato famine.

Every account encountered says these are impossible to eradicate after starting, however, I just put out my third planting and have struggled to get them to grow. From what I planted last year I had three plants this year. The flowers are quite nice, a sunny yellow with yellow centers, and about six feet tall.

They may be cooked any way the potato can, i.e. soup (called Palestine Soup), fritters, souffle, fried chips, boiled, devilled chips, Lyonnaise, mashed, pan fried with onions, cooked with white or cream sauce, au-gratin, salad, and pickled. Always slice them into salted water with lemon juice to prevent darkening. Drain and pat dry before frying.

Jerusalem Artichoke salad is made by layering sliced boiled sunchokes and onion, and dressing with mayonnaise or oil and vinegar.

Fritters: Boil the sunchokes not more than 15 minutes, slice them ¼ inch thick, dip in flour and fry till a golden brown.

Fried: Scrape and wash the sunchokes, slice or cut like French fries, deep fry until golden brown, serve with lemon juice or butter.

When is a Pumpkin Not a Pumpkin?©

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Have you seen the somewhat comical posts going around facebook in which the poster feigns horror to find out her canned Libby’s pumpkin is not “actually pumpkin”?  If not, you will so let’s go ahead and have “the” talk about squash that all good cooks and gardeners must have at some point in life.

Squash, pumpkins, and some gourds all belong to the same family of plants – Curcurbitaceae.  Both are rambling vines which produce large, heavy, usually some shade of orange though some remain green or mottled, fruits.  They all have both male and female flowers, and both are necessary for producing fruit.  Frankly, the genetic makeup of pumpkins and what we call winter squash is virtually the same.

While we’re compiling this genealogy chart let us not forget that squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are also  related to melons and cucumbers, so closely related, in fact, all will “cross” if planted too closely together.  When this happens, the seeds will not produce true to the host plant, and instead of a fine sweet melon you may end up with an insipid Franken-melon.

There are large pumpkins used to make jack-o-lanterns or for feeding farm animals and there are others which are much better for pies.  Squash pie made from winter squash is quite common.

These plants fall into one of the following categories:  Curcurbita maxima, C. moschata, and C. pepo.  Maxima usually produces large fruits with round thick stems that are harvested in the fall.  Moschata has round stems and is usually harvested as a mature winter squash.  Pepo is a summer squash like zucchini or crookneck.  Delicious they may be but not necessarily good for making pies or sweetbread.

Now that everything is clear as mud let’s look at that orange stuff in the can.  Libby’s says their canned pumpkin is Dickinson squash – it looks like a pumpkin but is a squash as are all pumpkins.  It is a moschata type plant that produces tan colored squash that weigh between 10 and 40 lbs. when ripe.  They are more oblong than round or squat.  The flesh is thick, sweeter than field pumpkin, and dry making it ideal for those famous holiday pies.  A curcurbit that is too moist will never produce pie filling as good or as thick as one with drier and sweeter flesh. 

For you gardeners, remember chunks of pumpkin can well, and cooked puree freezes well.  

Dickinson thrives in hot weather, it keeps for months after harvesting, and moschata are thought to be less bothered by humidity, heat, disease, and those pesky squash borers than maxima or pepo so what’s not to love?

Where this tale gets twisted is researching the origin of Dickinson pumpkins.  The internet is full of bloggers and seed companies who claim this fruit dates from between 1795 and 1835, and that it was developed by Elijah Dickinson, but after an exhaustive search I’m unable to find any primary source documentation to support these dates or the first name of the breeder.  In fact, the first mention I was able to locate for Dickinson Pumpkin (or Squash) was 1946.

Some notable publications where the elusive Dickinson pumpkin was not found include: 

“The Tennessee Farmer”.  1836.

“The American Farmer’s New and Universal Hand-Book”.  1854.  Philadelphia.

Burr, Fearing.  “Garden Vegetables, and How to Cultivate Them”.  1866.  Boston.

“The Farm Journal”.  May 1855.

“Southern Planter”.  1843.

“The American Farmer’s New and Universal Handbook”.  1869. Philadelphia. 

“Proceedings”.  Iowa State Horticultural Society.  1893.

1900 U.S.D.A. Farmer’s Bulletin No. 2086, article on pumpkin varieties.

Until, or unless, someone shares a primary source to support the late 18^th and early 19^th century origins, I’m going to boldly say the Dickinson became a distinctive variety during the 1940s and 50s.  It was most likely simply a local variety grown near the Illinois Dickinson cannery that opened about 1895.  It probably took on a whole new level of importance after Libby bought the cannery and began marketing canned pumpkin. 

The answer to when is a pumpkin not a pumpkin is, obviously, when it’s a squash!  Pumpkin IS a type of squash and botanically speaking they’re the same.  Seeds are available for Dickinson and other pie pumpkins for the gardener.  They make nice pies as do butternut, Georgia Candy Roaster, sugar pie pumpkin, Cinderella pumpkin, Musquee de Provence and some of their closely related cousins.   Choose Libby’s for a quick puree or a sweeter, drier variety of winter squash and bake or stew it down with as little water as possible if you’re nutty enough to enjoy growing your own.  Just don’t forget the whipped cream.