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Helianthus tuberosus (Asteraceae)

A perennial plant, with a tall straight stem, lanceolate, toothed, rough leaves, terminal, radiate, yellow and brown flowers. and roots shaped into tubercles. The latter are edible, with a taste reminiscent of artichokes.

They saved the life of several million Frenchmen, at the end of WWII, including this writer’s. Occupying Germans had captured, for their country’s profit, the entire French agricultural production. Hence, a near-famine that the topinambours — their name in French —greatly helped to assuage. At that time, and this was highly unoriginal, I swore I would never eat them again. I am now 85 and so far I have kept that promise to myself.

“Jerusalem artichokes” do not originate at all in Palestine, as suggests their name in English. They come from the New World. And that is a story in itself, one of accidental or wilful misunderstandings.

Samuel de Champlain (ca 1570-1635) was a French explorer. He travelled through North America during the years 1604-7. He described this plant, that he saw while visiting Indian tribes in Massachusetts. He would become governor of the Nouvelle France and he founded the city of Québec

Marc Lescarbot (ca 1570-1641), another traveler and explorer of the New World, brought this plant back to France in 1603. Ten years or so later, this easily grown vegetable was widespread in France. At that time, some South American Indians, from present-day Brazil, were also in France. They were Tupinambas, who lived in the coastal areas from the mouth of the Amazon to the present-day State of São Paulo. By a fortuitous and totally erroneous coincidence, their name stuck in the French language as that of the vegetable!

Published inPlants