[permaculture-oceania] Jerusalem artichokes

[STARFLOWER]

Jerusalem artichkes are available at the Organic Food & Farmer's Markets in Sydney when in season - usually in autumn and early winter. I buy them regularly.
They are also available at good fruit & veg shops and occasionally in Woolworths - in Sydney anyway
Karen B

PS jerusalem artichokes are also very high in inulin - a compound that is very good for the correct growth of gut  bacteria. Highest food source is Murnong - an aboriginal food similar to dandelion
Karen B
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: P Ferguson 
  To: permaculture oceania 
  Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 11:00 AM
  Subject: [permaculture-oceania] Jerusalem artichokes


  I have never seen Jerusalem artichokes sold in shops, so unless one has the space to grow this under-utilised crop, it simply isn't available.

  From Wikipedia: 

  Similar to water chestnuts in taste, the traditional use of the tuber is as a gourmet vegetable. Jerusalem artichoke tubers resemble potatoes except the carbohydrates composing 75 to 80% of the tubers are in the form of inulin rather than starch. Once the tubers are stored in the ground or refrigerated, the inulin is converted to fructose and the tubers develop a much sweeter taste. Dehydrated and ground tubers can be stored for long periods without protein and sugar deterioration. Tubers can be prepared in ways similar to potatoes. In addition, they can be eaten raw, or made into flour, or pickled. They are available commercially under several names, including sunchokes and lambchokes.

  B. Alcohol Production:
  In France the artichoke has been used for wine and beer production for many years. Ethanol and butanol, two fuel grade alcohols, can be produced from Jerusalem artichokes. The cost of producing ethanol currently is not competitive with gasoline prices, and therefore the success of ethanol plants has been limited.



  Talk about versatile.



  P Ferguson

  Illawarra NSW



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  permaculture-oceania mailing list
  permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au
  http://lists.cat.org.au/mailman/listinfo/permaculture-oceania
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/pipermail/pil-pc-oceania/attachments/20060612/17fa6bf1/attachment.html