ISSUE 74, THE BOOK OF RARER VEGETABLES, Part 2: Chinese Artichoke
Chinese Artichoke
For reasons that are not quite accountable the name artichoke has been given to a variety of unrelated vegetables. The Jerusalem Artichoke, a tuberous member of the sunflower family, comes immediately to mind. Another nominal artichoke is Stachys affinis, commonly called the Chinese artichoke. It, like is non-relative, the Jerusalem Artichoke, has an edible tuber. The white skinned rhizome is segmented into a series of bulges punctuated by waist-like constrictions. Relatively short in length ranging from an inch to two and ½ inches in length, the roots have great visual novelty and interest. Sometimes sold under the name “Crosne” referring the English locality where the first commercial production was undertaken in Great Britain, its flesh can be boiled, baked, or fried.
It was called Chinese Artichoke because the plant is Native to northern China. It was domesticated there in the 13th century CE. It spread to Europe in the 19th century during the great exploration of global edible plants that took place then. It did not make its way into American cultivation until the first decade of the 20th century and was brought in from Japan, not Europe; hence numbers of people called in the Japanese Potato. Cornell sponsored the first cultivation of the vegetable. Syndicated articles began appearing in American newspapers in 1907 reporting that Chinese Artichokes “are prepared for the table like potatoes or other vegetables or may be eaten raw like radishes.” George Wythes in his Book of Rarer Vegetables supplies two generalized recipes:
My first encounter with the vegetable was shocking. Ar first I though I was staring at a basket of grubs—the segmented tubers reminded me of insect bodies. The proprietor invited me to a sample. I thought the raw tuber excellent. The boiled “artichoke” I thought insipid in the way the Hopnis or Apios Americana is bland when boiled. I haven’t had them baked or fried, though I would image the latter interesting.
Sources: “A New Tuber,” Harrisburg Patriot (December 14, 1907), 12.