Sunchokes: What Saveur Is Too Polite to Mention

Saveur just did a nice piece on one of my favorite rhizomes, the Jerusalem artichoke, aka the sunchoke. The author hinted that "the principle carbohydrate it contains...is inulin rather than starch, making [it] a lighter-tasting but less digestible alternative to an Idaho russet." (December 2006, p.32) Readers might gloss over this not knowing that the author is in fact referring to the nuclear fartpower these little nuggets possess. My mom told me that my grandparents grow them and have built up a "tolerance" but that they refuse to feed them to guests, considering it basically impolite to lace their dinner with gastrointestinal TNT. She warned that people have been known to "float away like a Zeppelin" after eating them. It's no joke. Or maybe it's the perfect joke.

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Sunchoke.
Sunchoke who?