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How to Harvest Jerusalem Artichokes
How to Harvest Jerusalem Artichokes. The Jerusalem artichoke—Helianthus tuberosus—is a native North American perennial that flourishes as a wild weed but is also cultivated as a food crop. The edible parts of the Jerusalem artichoke plant are the clusters of underground tubers which are often marketed in grocery stores as "sun...
The Jerusalem artichoke—Helianthus tuberosus—is a native North American perennial that flourishes as a wild weed but is also cultivated as a food crop. The edible parts of the Jerusalem artichoke plant are the clusters of underground tubers which are often marketed in grocery stores as "sun chokes." The tubers of the cultivated varieties of the Jerusalem artichoke are predominantly white in color and resemble knobby ginger root.
Things You'll Need
Sickle or mower
Potato fork with closely-spaced tines or sturdy garden rake
Plan ahead for the harvest at cultivation time. Jerusalem artichokes thrive in rich, slightly alkaline, sandy loam which also makes for an easier harvest. Plant starter tubers 2 to 3 inches deep in raised furrows, leaving 24 to 30 inches between plantings within a furrow and 3 to 4 feet between furrows.
Choose your desired harvesting time. Tubers may be harvested any time after the first hard frost in the fall but before new growth begins in the spring.
Harvest the crop. Cut off top stalks of plants close to the soil line using a sickle or a mower set high enough to clear the top of the furrow. Using a potato fork or sturdy garden rake, dig into the base of the furrow adjacent to a topped stalk then lift and shake the cluster of tubers loose from the soil. Because the skin of the tubers is thin, try to keep the tines of the potato fork or rake below the cluster of tubers as you dig to minimize any gouging and bruising of the tubers.
Store the harvested tubers. Due to their thin skin, tubers will rapidly lose moisture and so should be properly stored immediately after harvest. Ideally, harvested tubers should be stored at 32 to 34 degrees F in 85 to 95 percent relative humidity. You can also keep a ready supply of tubers in sealed polyethylene bags in your refrigerator. Under these conditions, tubers will keep for several months.
Prepare for next season. Because the Jerusalem artichoke is a hardy, native perennial, it can invade your garden. Try to harvest as many tubers as you can but expect a considerable number of "volunteer" plants to emerge the following spring. In order to maintain a controlled crop from one season to the next, destroy these volunteer plants before they can develop tubers and cultivate the desired number of plantings in managed furrows.
Tips & Warnings
Tubers dug later in the season tend to have a sweeter taste but will contain less inulin, the carbohydrate which the digestive system converts to fructose.
Any tubers that you plan to use as seed tubers for next season's planting should not be allowed to freeze nor dry out while under storage.
