Pickled sunchokes - update 1

[temporaryreality]

In response to  sdi 's inquiry, I am here to report on the fermenting of a small batch of sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes).

I harvested in October when the north wind blew down my single stand of sunchokes before they'd even bloomed. Just to try out the variation, I peeled some and left others unpeeled, chopped them into about 1/2" long chunks, put them in a brine to ferment. Basically I followed this recipe: Jerusalem Artichoke Recipe (Pickled Sunchokes) | Hilda's Kitchen Blog. I changed the brine once, then at step 7 I stretched the instructions beyond their original intention, when the instructions say "once the sunchokes have been brined for a week..." 

I brined them for...four months.

Anyway, I pulled them out a few days ago and gave them a taste. They were sour and salty and generally uninspiring. They were not moldy or soft, and in fact they retained their crunch, though they were definitely on the starchy end of things, consistency-wise. At that point in the recipe, I wouldn't be too into them. Also, in my opinion, they definitely should be peeled. The outer layer was too fibrous for my liking.

I proceeded with the second part of the process (creating a vinegar and spice solution to pour over the 'chokes and let them sit in the fridge for ...[checks recipe]... haha, well, it says this: "The pickled sunchokes will be ready to eat after three days but will taste better the longer they’re allowed to pickle"...Well, I won't let them go another four months! 

Maybe another week?

Comments

[methylethyl]

Intriguing!

[temporaryreality]

Yeah, I seem to do these kinds of things more for the doing than for the product...

[methylethyl]

I just put up a fresh batch of saurkraut, and was idly thinking about what I could pickle *next*, besides more kraut. I was in a bit of a kraut rut. You have opened a door to some new possibilities...

[temporaryreality]

Cool! There are some different recipes for this out there. It was recommended by some as a method for solving the "wind" problem some have with sun chokes.

I haven't had the problem, but mostly because I haven't totally cultivated a taste for sun chokes beyond trying to grow them (they don't like my tough love approach, so we're not even making it that far).

If pickled turns out good, though, I might soften up on them :)

[sdi]

Hahaha, thank you, this is appreciated :)

[temporaryreality]

I was impressed that they didn't get soft. If I do this again, I'll follow the instructions more closely, not least because then I won't have to feel vaguely guilty when I make my tea every morning because the long-fermenting veggies are giving me baleful looks.

[hearthspirit]

I was interested to see what happened; I used to grow sunchokes, because all the hipsters here are right into them... But we couldn't eat them! I feel like I'm missing out on some cult thing about these fartichokes, as we call them.

The inulin gave us the worst intestinal pain we've ever had, and none of the ways we were told to cook them helped. I've been told that loooooooong low heat cooking or long fermentation does it, but I've been afraid to try again. They weren't tasty, but were they at least digestible?

[temporaryreality]

Given that I treated them as only a condiment (and it was purely for the science :D), I only at like 3-4 of those chunks. No adverse effects were noted, but gosh, I'm sorry they affected you folks so badly!

If their finished flavor is better (and if I suspect that they'd be improved all around by a shorter fermentation on top of that), I'll of course report back that they're worth trying.

As far as I'm concerned, though (and like you), they're not high on my must-plant, must-eat list. If I could get some to live all the way to blooming and I found pollinators loved them, then maybe they'll be a garden keeper. Otherwise, I've got other things I'd rather give the space to.