Thursday, January 24, 2008

Sunflower Chokes

Sarah's job gives her a bonus quarterly if she exercises for 2 hours and tries a new fruit or veggie every week. I wonder if beer jelly counts?
The tuber from the sunflower, sunflower chokes have the nutty flavor of potato, jicama, and an artichoke. They can be eaten raw, prepared like a potato, or sauteed and served with fresh herbs. Great on appetizer platters, stir-fried, or in salads.
I've got a bunch of these in the steamer right now. I'll let you know whether or not they make me hurl. :)

5 comments:

List with Laszlo said...

Two hours of exercise I understand. Eating "the Tuber from the sunflower" aaaaaaaaah!

Who thinks up such gross crap! Give me beer and some peanuts. Beer is good, beer is good, beer is good.

Unknown said...

Coffee and cigarettes. It has zero calories so it must be good for you.

rbbergstrom said...

Turns out they were really tasty. Sort of like a spicy potato.

More accurately, the flavor of the insides was completely like a potato, but the skin (and the layer of innards closest to it) had a spiciness not unlike a really mild chile pepper.

The insides kinda "flaked" - in texture resembling an artichoke heart on the big ones that weren't steamed as well, but turning to mush like mashed potatoes on the small ones that cooked further.

Overall, it was really tasty, and I'll be glad to try them again sometime.

Anonymous said...

The sunflowers I have grown just have shallow roots. I have seen no tubers? Where am I missing the boat here? Course I don't really dig around them so much as just push them over at the end of the season... maybe I just need to dig?

Did you buy or grow these? I need a job where she works!

rbbergstrom said...

I bought them - check your produce department. I was at Safeway, didn't even have to go to Wild Oats or Whole Foods.