Sunchoke/Earth Apple

This large, coarse sunflower was cultivated by Great Plains Native Americans, and has spread Eastward. It attracts birds and butterflies and the edible tuber is highly nutritious and – unlike potatoes – contains no starch, but rather carbohydrates in a form that is metabolized into natural sugar. When boiled or roasted like potatoes they are delicious, or eaten raw they have a sweet, earthy, nut-like taste. The common name is a corruption of the Italian girasole, meaning “turning to the sun.”