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CHINESE ARTICHOKE
Chinese artichokes, though they are vastly different in appearance above and below ground and require different growing conditions, are harvested and used like Jerusalem artichokes.

The plants are attractively bushy and dark green, about 18 inches tall with felt-like leaves and square stems that signal their membership in the mint family.

Their odd, crunchy little tubers are about the size of chess pieces. The tubers are arranged in pearly white knob-like segments resembling Michelin man or the larvae of an insect.

Like the Jerusalem artichoke, the Chinese artichoke is not an artichoke at all. It is a stachys. The popular perennial known as Lamb's Ears, a ground cover that forms dense mats of woolly gray leaves, is Stachys byzantina. Chinese artichoke is Stachys tuberifera. In France the curious tuber is known as Crosnes, after the home town of a Monsieur Pailleux of Crosnes, who introduced the vegetable into Europe from the East.
Chinese artichoke tubers



Culture

Chinese artichokes need to be grown in a fully sunny site with a soil that is deep, light-textured, humus-rich and fertile. The plants also need consistently adequate moisture and freedom from weed competition in order to produce tubers that are plump enough to be usable.

Plant the tubers early in the spring, in March if possible, four inches deep and six inches apart in rows 12 inches apart. The tubers are ready to harvest around mid-October and can be gathered, like Jerusalem artichokes, through the winter right from the garden. Chinese artichokes are delightfully crunchy, like water chestnuts. The taste is light and refreshing.

A disadvantage is the difficulty in eradicating them once planted. The plants send out underground runners and come up all over the place. And every bit of tuber left in the ground is guaranteed to grow.

Using Chinese Artichokes

Chinese artichokes are not peeled but scrubbed clean. The tubers should not be exposed to light, which darkens them and causes a loss of flavor. Though a little fiddly to clean, Chinese artichoke tubers are a delightful raw snack. They can also be steamed or stir-fried. In France the tubers are featured in creamed soups, served raw, and steamed and eaten with butter.



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See other Summer in the Garden features:
Delphinium | June Garden | Garden Structures | June Tasks
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