Growing Jerusalem artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes divide vegetable gardeners into two very different camps.

To call them the Marmite of the vegetable world would be a bit of a misnomer, since although there are many who would claim to hate this lowly root crop, I have yet to meet anyone who sincerely loves it.

My own feeling about this plant is really one of admiration. It grows in spite of the worst conditions you could dream up and yields so prolifically that it shames other crops.

In the middle of winter, when stores of potatoes have dwindled and you would never think of putting a seed potato into the ground to get growing, there are the artichoke tubers raring to get going in the soil and looking every bit as plump as the day I dug them out last year.

So every year, at about this time, I think about them again with a pang of remorse that I still haven't put proper time into researching some really tasty recipes for using them up.

Maybe you're one of those rare people who loves Jerusalem artichokes and have a stock of good ways to use them in the kitchen. If you are, I'd love to hear from you, especially if you can send along a recipe or two (email fiona.sanderson@mac.com).

My feeble attempts to get to like them have so far included a savoury mash with parsnips, squash and potatoes, much flavoured with cheese and black pepper. I've also tried grating them raw into salads. Apparently, this way can reduce the gastric effects that these artichokes can produce. A gardener's dictionary written in the 18th century refers to the "windy quality which hath brought them almost into disuse", which puts the problem pretty succinctly.

Some gardening writers suggest that more modern varieties of artichoke are much kinder in the kitchen, firstly because they are less knobbly to prepare, and also because they have less tendency to discolour offputtingly when cooked. They are certainly a rich store of good nutrients, particularly calcium.

Growing them couldn't be easier. Follow the usual common sense advice of choosing a site that is well drained and so on, and you will get a bumper crop. You could almost just throw the tubers over your shoulder on to the poorest soil and some of them would still grow, such is their robust zest for life.

Careful choice of where to put them will yield nice plump tubers, and does have another benefit. They grow into tall sunflower-like plants that are a great windbreak. I think they are a very pretty way of sheltering an area of land from harsh winds, and it's really for this reason that I give them space on the allotment.

Additionally, the previous year's growth, which might be up to 8ft tall, can easily be snapped off and chopped into good nitrogenous compost material or pushed into the ground for stakes or uprights for makeshift screens and windbreaks.