[Pil-pc-oceania] Jerusalem artichokes medicinal properties, weeds and wind factors

[Robyn Williamson]

> Deb wrote:  They are known to be a powerful balancer of pancreatic, 
> liver and kidney function.  I have had feeling of physical well-being 
> within a couple of days after eating soup comprised largely of j.a's.

All the talk about sunchokes was making me hungry and to learn of their 
medicinal properties was an added bonus.  I've only ever had them 
steamed so last night I baked 4 large sunchokes for a new taste 
sensation, as a pick-me-up and to test the wind factor.

> Fern wrote:  Cooch isn't as hardy and invasive as kikuyu, but they are 
> similiar.

Very similar, we're in a warmer climate but years ago we dug out 
hundreds of square metres of kikuyu by hand to make sure we got all the 
stolons out, only to have it re-appear with couch in it as well.  
Whether the couch was lying dormant under the ki waiting for an 
opportunity to dominate I don't know, but the natural seed bank in the 
soil must have played its part too.  The only way I know how to get rid 
of couch and kikuyu is by covering it with black plastic for up to 12 
months then planting trees, which will eventually overcome grasses that 
inevitably return.  We did have some limited success suppressing the 
grasses with lablab beans along a fence line.

>> Hannah wrote:  But apart from that they are great, windbreak,

I'm not sure about windbreak, but breaking wind is for sure, certainly 
with baked sunchokes.  Next time I'll try Deb's soup idea, maybe the 
way they're prepared makes a difference.  I don't recall anything out 
of the ordinary when I ate them steamed.

> Jedd wrote:   Like sunflowers, they're allelotrophic (sp?) so can 
> suppress their neighbours.

That's allelopathic Jedd, sunflowers are allegedly phototrophic so 
sunchokes might be too.  I say allegedly because I've tried to test 
that theory and have never seen any sunflowers that face east in the 
morning and west in the afternoon.

>  Also note that it's quite easy to have too many JA's, all the more so 
> if you're prone to windy reactions to some foods.  I think
>  the polite way they refer to this as a foodstuff is 'introduce it 
> slowly into the diet'.
>  (Robyn - far left of pic 2 you can see my erstwhile Horseradish ;(

Jeez, I was under the impression horseradish was a great weed 
suppressant with the potential to run amok.  They look so healthy Jedd, 
what happened?  Do you think the sunchokes suppressed them or shaded 
them out?  Maybe they like a cooler climate, mine carked it when I 
moved them so I think they resent disturbance too.

Robyn