Growing up, my father loved growing vegetables. He was proud of his produce, always sharing the harvest with friends and neighbors. He would even encourage compliments at the dinner table by saying, “those green beans are really good, aren’t they?” Of course, we quickly responded to the affirmative, lest the question would be posed again. But I must say, the beans were always good, along with the squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and many other vegetables that came out of his garden.
Dad also loved making different types of relish, and he usually made it around this time of year since it is generally made with vegetables that otherwise have no other use. For instance, he would make chow-chow with the green tomatoes he picked off the vines before the first frost (they became only suitable for the compost pile after the first frost). He would make a pear relish from the fruit of two Kieffer pear trees. And lastly, there was his most-treasured artichoke relish. This stuff was treated with reverence and watched closely at the Thompson dinner table. Dad would be quick to admonish anyone who took more than a heaping spoonful to eat along with their bowl of turnips or collard greens. He would reluctantly bring out a new jar at Thanksgiving, knowing that the crowd of 20 or more would ultimately consume the whole jar at one sitting. And it was treasured for a good reason; it was absolutely delicious.
Sunchokes are native to the Midwest states but have found their way around the world since North America was colonized. The Native Americans used it as an important food source that could be harvested from the soil as needed (the tubers don’t store well). Sunchokes are botanically known as Helianthus tuberosus and are a species of
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