Sunchokes

The sunchoke is a vegetable that is actually a member of the sunflower family. Its root consists of an edible tuber, whose sweet taste is like a potato and an artichoke. Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, it is resident in the United States and is widely grown in Texas.

You can recognize a sunchoke by its similarity to a white potato, except that its outer skin has many bumps on it and is not easily peeled. Although you may choose to remove a sunchoke's outer skin, typically it is kept and included in the preparation of vegetables. Sunchokes can be purchased year round in the major supermarket chains and specialty vegetable markets. You may also be able to buy sunchoke seed in the home and garden centers to grow your own sunchokes home.

When you buy sunchoke tubers for cooking, choose only those that are solid to the touch and which do not contain many bruises or marks on them. Also look to ensure that the tubers are not moldy or curly. Once purchased, you can save sunchokes in your home for up to one week, provided that sunchokes still unwashed and are placed in a plastic bag in your refrigerator. To use sunchoke a few days after buying it and want to prepare for cutting slices in advance to use that a mixture of water and lemon juice, and dip slices into the mixture. When placing sunchoke slices dipped in a suitable container and store them in your refrigerator. Using this method, the sunchoke slices remain fresh for a few days before using them.

Sunchokes can be substituted in recipes that require potatoes. But they have one more nut-like flavor than potatoes. Sunchokes also has a crisp texture when raw and can be used raw in recipes as an alternative to water chestnuts. Thus sunchokes used raw in salads and vegetable dishes, or they can be baked, boiled, microwaved, steamed, added to soups or sauted with other vegetables such as onions and peppers, for use as a side dish.

When you use sunchokes, it is important to clean the tubers thoroughly under cold water before use. You can also use a scrub brush to clean the tuber. Note also that sunchokes not last as long as a potato when brought home from a store. Therefore try to sunchokes us that you bought as soon as possible after buying them.

Sunchokes is also a very nutritious vegetable. For example, sunchokes contains no fat, cholesterol or sodium. In addition, they contain traces of iron, calcium and potassium. They also contain vitamin C. For those counting calories, one cup of raw sunchoke equals approximately 115 calories. Thus sunchokes is a good dietary source of food.

The sunchokes is a unique vegetable that offers an alternative to potatoes in recipes and a delicious addition to raw salads and other meals. Because of this, sunchoke will continue to be used as a versatile vegetable in many dishes today.