JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE or SUNCHOKE



A plant in the sunflower family, it grows up to 8 or 10 feet tall. The flowers are about 3 to 4 inches across, with anywhere from 10 to 20 petals. The leaves are large and ovate, about 5 to 10 inches long. Dig up the tubers anywhere from about a week or so after the petals start to fall, through winter.

They can be eaten raw, cook, or pickled. My great-grandmother used to grate them raw and add them to salads, and that's still my favorite way to eat them.

They're easy to overcook. They can be boiled or fried like potatoes, and they make a good soup. Supposedly they can be roasted, but I've never had much success with that.

I've heard that they can cause diarrhea. I've never had a problem with that, but you probably shouldn't eat too many of them at one time.

KUDZU



WARNING: DO NOT CONFUSE THIS PLANT WITH POISON IVY, WHOSE LEAVES APPEAR SIMILAR. It is best identified by the grape smell the flowers give off.

Also called, "the vine that ate the south," this fast-growing vine has become a huge problem in the southeast. An insect has been inadvertently introduced that eats kudzu. Unfortunately, it also eats soybeans and may soon become as big a problem.

In my philosophy, the best way to get rid of a troublesome plant or critter is to eat it. Unfortunately, eating kudzu is not easy. I've seen recipes for the young shoots, that are supposedly edible when cooked. If you're starving and there's nothing else, go ahead and eat them. Or trade them for whatever Bear Grylls is eating. Otherwise, feed them to the rabbits. The seed pods and seeds are NOT edible.

However, the roots, collected anywhere from late fall to early spring, are starchy and nutritious when made into a flour, much like cattail roots. Strip off the outer layer, slice them, and puree them in a blender with plenty of water.

Run this mess through a colander to collect the water. Squeeze the water out of the fibrous material you collect in the colander and add it to the water you've collected, and discard the fibers.

Allow the starch to settle out, discard the water, add more cold water, mash them up again and allow to settle. Repeat this once or twice more, and dry the starch to form a pretty good white flour.

And yes, hunting and gathering is labor intensive.

Onward and upward,
airforce