The photos above are of Jerusalem Artichokes I found online. The following text is copied directly from the Complete Book of Juicing:
Jerusalem Artichoke
The Jerusalem artichoke, often referred to as a “sunchoke” is native to North America. It is not part of the artichoke family; in fact, it belongs to the daisy family and is closely related to the sunflower. The name Jerusalem is thought to be an English corruption of Ter Neusen, the place in The Netherlands from which the plant was introduced into England. Alternatively, Webster says Jerusalem is a corruption of girasole, the Italian word for sunflower. The plants were cultivated by the Native Americans.
Key Benefits
Jerusalem artichokes are full of a sugar known as inulin. Inulin is a polysaccharide, or starch, that is handled by the body differently than other sugars. In fact, inulin is not used by the body for energy metabolism. This makes Jerusalem artichokes extremely beneficial to diabetics….(the paragraph continues on to explain how)
Inulin also has the ability to enhance a component of our immune system know as complement. Specifically, inulin is an activator of the alternative complement pathway, which is responsible for increasing host defense mechanisms such as neutralization of viruses; destruction of bacteria, and increasing the movement of white blood cells to areas of infection. Many medicinal plants, such as echinacea and burdock, owe much of their immune-enhancing effect to inulin. Jerusalem artichokes are one of the richest sources of inulin available.
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