The Jerusalem artichoke is not from Jerusalem, nor is it an artichoke - but it is the best way to make your gut happy! Jerusalem artichoke soup is warm, delicious, and an excellent source of prebiotics.
I don’t even know what a Jerusalem artichoke is
Ah, the peculiar Jerusalem artichoke: its name rings with mystic poetry and pale limestone, its appearance recalls hearty soup cooked over a mediaeval hearth - a romantic image, isn’t it? Well, it’s only half right. Yes, the Jerusalem artichoke makes a creamy, warming soup that’s going to make you want to wrap yourself in a cosy blanket, with a bowl of Jerusalem artichoke soup, and sit in front of a crackling fire. No doubt about that. But don’t be deterred by the Jerusalem artichoke’s imposing name. This gnarly little guy is actually a sunchoke, which means, for one thing, the Jerusalem artichoke doesn’t taste like an artichoke. They are instead mild and sweet, with a flavour and texture often compared to a hazelnut, a water chestnut, or as one self-ordained Foodaholic on Quora puts it, “the best potato you’ve ever had.”The Jerusalem artichoke’s sunchoke status also means you aren’t waging battle with the spiky, green armour that protects a standard artichoke when you go to make your Jerusalem artichoke soup. A Jerusalem artichoke is simply the knob at the base of a certain kind of sunflower (Helianthus tuberosus to be exact): a tuber that balloons underground at the end of the Jerusalem artichoke plant’s roots. In a supermarket, it can easily be mistaken for ginger. The “Jerusalem” in Jerusalem artichoke is the etymological outcome of a long-running game of telephone that began with the Italian word for sunflower, girasole. One day, long ago, someone Italian gave their non-Italian friend a bowl of Jerusalem artichoke soup (probably), and told them it was “girasole” soup. The friend heard “girasolm”, and told her aunt, who heard “jerasolm”...you get the gist.
I still don’t want to peel Jerusalem artichokes
Feeling better about the sunchoke and ready to try it? Well, with our Jerusalem artichoke soup recipe below, you won’t even have to deal with the prep: a few teaspoons of our Organic Jerusalem Artichoke Powder, and you’re good to go. We source our Jerusalem artichokes from small organic farms in Eastern Europe. Our farmers pick them at the height of the harvest season and dry over the next two days. Then, we grind the dried tubers into powder. That’s five kilos of Jerusalem artichokes for every one kilo of powder! The powder is great to have on hand after you make your Jerusalem artichoke soup. It’s high in prebiotic inulin, which means the Jerusalem artichoke powder is great for your gut AND as a thickener in recipes - we use it in pancakes, muffins, and instead of flour when thickening sauces, like a roux. You are getting all of the benefits in your Jerusalem artichoke soup with none of the work. Remember earlier how that Quora user said a Jerusalem artichoke is like the best potato you’ve ever had? Well, a potato is to starch, as a Jerusalem artichoke is to inulin.
Okay cool, so what’s inulin?
I’m glad you asked. You may not know it, but you’ve probably been eating inulin for a long time. You can find inulin not only in sunchokes, but also as the primary carbohydrate in some of the oldest ingredients in human history. For example, inulin is in garlic, onions, and barley in the West, yacon in South America and Japan, and murnong in Australia. We’ve been eating inulin since the beginning of human existence, and you should continue the tradition. Much like Jerusalem artichoke powder can be used as a thickener in recipes, so too is inulin utilised for its tendency to form a fat-imitating gel that doesn’t fall apart in water. This gel looks a lot like partly-solid coconut oil. Now, imagine this gel in your gut. It passes through your oesophagus, your stomach, your small intestine, and most of your large intestine before arriving at your colon, intact. All the while, it’s helping usher food through your digestive system and adding weight to your stool. This makes it easier to pass. Don’t worry - just because WE can’t digest the inulin doesn’t mean no one is getting to enjoy it. Enter the probiotic bacteria - a.
