The story so far

Tamara left Bunyip in April 2009 seeking what she needed to know for her permaculture future. She spent 9 months at her Aunt Catherine's farm in Arid South Australia, then 9 months at Bill and Lisa Mollison's farm in Tasmania. Now she's off on more adventures starting Moonrise School of Permaculture and teaching Permaculture Design Courses in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne. Ducky is there for the journey...

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jerusalem fartichoke no more!















Jerusalem Artichokes produce an amazing harvest from one rhizome and come back year after year in temperate zones (thats because you can never get it all out). Problem is that they cause flatulence in their eaters and are sometimes known as fartichokes!

I have been experimenting in the kitchen and have figured out how to make the jerusalem artichoke fart free:

1. Cut jerusalem artichoke into pieces
2. Place in glass container, I used a large glass jug so I could see what was happening
3. Pour over double the amount of boiled and cooled water
4. After a day there is a tannin coloured layer above the chokes. Pour this off and repeat step 3
5. After 2 days the liquid looks cloudy (this is the ferment), pour off the water
6. Rinse and cook as desired

I was reading a recipe that Bill Mollison had written saying that soaking beans or lentils for 2 days caused a short ferment which reduced the farts (the soluble fibre ferments outside the body instead of in it) so I tried it out on the jerusalem artichokes and it worked!

I have not tested this with double blind tests yet, dad (the scientist) has advised me of some methods and I'll be giving everyone in the Tagari office jerusalem artichoke soup for lunch and documenting reactions... more next week!

Jerusalem artichokes are a loved permaculture plant and often used as windbreaks for tomatoes. I have used them to protect young fruit trees.

This is open source fart-less information, please share with anyone who'd be interested :)


3 comments:

  1. Hello Tamara,

    Thank you very much .
    I have been looking for a recipe to get rid of the flatulence Jerusalum artichoke this morning.
    And Ange forwarded this to me.
    Thanks,
    Charlie xo

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  2. Can you elaborate a bit more on step 3? Thanks!

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  3. I have thes artichokes, by instinct or sccidnt, I can say Yes, they do provide wind shelter for my tomatoes, they also provide good protection for other things, dappled shade for peas & good cover for chickens. I will try the ferment process, we loved the flavour & texture but help with the consequesnces of consumption is welcome.

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