By any name, sunchokes are delicate and slightly sweet

Sunchokes were once known as Jerusalem artichokes. OK, so they're not from Jerusalem, and they are not artichokes: hence the name change! These knobby little root veggies aren't much in the beauty department, but they are flavorful and full of fiber and minerals.
The Jerusalem artichoke, botanically named Helianthus tuberosus, is the tuber, or root vegetable, in the aster flower family. The flowers look like small yellow sunflowers. More modernly called sunchokes, they look a lot like fresh ginger root. Sir Walter Raleigh found Native-Americans cultivating sunroots in what is now Virginia in 1585. When the sunchoke reached Europe in the early 1600s, thanks to Samuel de Champlain, it was known as the Canada potato or French potato. The French, who call it topinambour, are credited with improving the flavor and cultivating sunchokes on a larger scale.
Sunchokes grow very easily, and they don't have many natural enemies. For that reason, during World War II, sunchokes and rutabagas were available in large supply in many areas of Europe. Many people who lived through WW II in Europe cannot look either vegetable in the face. A cook I worked with told me that as a child, in Belgium during WW II, his diet did not vary much from sunchokes seasoned with saccharin.
If it's not an artichoke and it's not from Jerusalem, why the name? One theory holds Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian girasola, meaning "turning toward the sun," a reference to the sunflower. Another theory involves another garbling of the Ter Neusen, Netherlands area where the sunchoke was originally introduced to Europe. Artichoke comes from the Arabic al-khurshuf, meaning thistle, another reference to appearance of the above-ground foliation. Whether you refer to it as Jerusalem artichoke, sunroot or sunchoke, the tubers have a delicate flavor that is slightly sweet and nut-like, similar to jicama and water chestnuts.
Although available year-round, prime season is from October to April, and they are best dug after a light frost. Choose smooth, clean, unblemished, firm tubers with a minimum of bumps. Avoid those with wrinkled skins, soft spots, blotched green areas or too many bumps. Scrub the tubers thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Peeling can be difficult due to the bumps and is not necessary. The peels are edible and add more insoluble fiber.
You can steam or microwave sunchokes, slice thinly and put in soups, stews or au gratins, or puree cooked sunchokes for a creamy soup or sauce.

SUNCHOKE & BUTTERNUT MASH

Serves 6.
2 pounds butternut or acorn squash
1 pound sunchokes, scrubbed
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons low fat or soy milk
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 navel oranges, sliced for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve squash; place cut side down on a baking sheet along with whole sunchokes.. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork. (Or microwave quartered squash with 1/4 cup water for 8 to 10 minutes and sunchokes, sliced, in 1/4 cup water for 3 to 4 1/2 minutes.) Scoop seeds from squash cavity; scoop out pulp into a large bowl (if desired, leave squash shells intact to use as serving containers). Chop sunchokes (no need to remove peel); add to squash pulp.
Add butter or margarine, milk, orange zest and pepper. Mash mixture on medium speed of electric mixer until blended; or process in food processor or blender in batches. Spoon into squash shells if desired; garnish with orange slices.
Nutritional information per serving: 200 calories, 4 grams protein, 6g fat, 23 percent calories from fat, 13 mg cholesterol, 7g fiber, 171 mg sodium.
Source: Adapted from www.freidas.com