Field guide · Autumn–winter

Jerusalem artichoke

Not from Jerusalem, not an artichoke — a sunflower's root, and the name is a mishearing of the Italian girasole. It looks like ginger's knobbly cousin, and most people leave it at the market for exactly that reason, unsure how to peel something so irregular. The trick is not to bother: scrub the skin, roast it whole, and it turns soft and faintly nutty, somewhere between an artichoke heart and a good potato. Best eaten with people you know well — it has a reputation, gently, for making itself felt afterward.

Noted 2026-07-20