If you are a  gardener, you are likely planning what to plant for the 2022 growing season right about now.  I wanted to put in a plug for sunchoke tubers for lots of reasons:

1. the tubers are versatile and make delicious soups, roasted or stir-fried vegetables, “pickles”, and raw salad garnish.
2. they are low-glycemic or low starch even  though they resemble potatoes–the carbohydrate in them is called inulin and is a good gut microbe prebiotic.  See this recipe for how to roast them–I recently mixed 2 small potatoes, 4 large sunchokes and 1/2 sweet red pepper with the seasonings in the recipe.
3. they are easy to grow and prolific–meaning 1 plant makes A LOT of tubers (see the picture which shows 1 plant being dug up).
4. the tubers remaining in the ground will make a new crop the following year.
5. they store very well in the ground over winter (as long as you mulch them heavily with straw or leaves) so you can dig them up as you need them.
6. the beautiful sunflower-like yellow flower is enjoyed by pollinators and makes a nice cut flower (the painter Monet thought so)  if you can reach it! (plants can reach 8 ft. tall).
7. they spread which is good as long as they are harvested so keep them in a restricted area of the garden.  Give them a try!