We have had the first few killing frosts for the year and that means it is sunchoke harvest time.  Many plants are better harvested after a frost.  Collards, some other greens, and sunchokes are all part of this list.  This is because some plants feel the cold and begin preparing for winter hibernation. The shock of a frost spurs the plant to convert its current energy into sugar and storing it for later. This will sweeten the taste of collards and make sunchoke tuber better tasting. 
 As you can see from the picture here, the leaves and stalks look completely dead from the last frost.

The sunchoke / Jerusalem Artichoke is a misunderstood and underrepresented edible plant.  It is not an Artichoke, nor is it from Jerusalem. Helianthus Tuberosus is a native North American plant in the same genus as Sunflowers. 
If you are in North America, growing these is very, very, easy. Controlling these is very, very, difficult. This plant knows it is home and it will take over the whole garden if you let it.  I know this is not an exaggeration as I have found patches of it growing wild in my area. Therefore, I took some extra precautions before planting these.  I first started these in a planter.  I then transferred them to an open bottom bucket I had once used for potatoes.  I then built a large raised bed just for them.  What started as one sunchoke in a planter is has now filled the raised bed with large tubers. Had I placed any other plants in this raised bed, they would have been “choked out” but the sunchokes. There is almost no more room for these tubers in the bed. Out of curiosity I raked my hand across the ground and one tuber popped up into my hand.  
Harvesting these is not always that simple, but they are not hard to harvest either.  I cut the stalks back and just pulled the plants up.  The tubers popped right out with them.  If some are a little stubborn to come up, a garden fork works great too. Just put the fork under the roots and pivot the handle down. The fork tines will lift the tubers up.

​One may ask, “why bother growing something that is so much work to contain”.   That person has probably never eaten a sunchoke. They are very tasty and very versatile.  They can be used in anyway someone may use a potato.  The flavor is like a buttery potato but also similar to a parsnip or turnip.

​An unexpected advantage of having a garden is that Thanksgiving becomes a legit harvest party. This year I harvested half the raised bed and roasted the sunchokes for Thanksgiving.  Roasting is my favorite method for eating sunchokes.  They taste great roasted and the process is easy.  I chop up the washed sunchokes into cubes.  This will require you to cut off the little bulb sides.  Then I add olive oil, salt, pepper, and some fresh rosemary from the herb garden. I spread them on a cookie sheet and back at 350 till they are tender and brown. This is about 30 minutes. The longer they are roasted, the darker they get.  So, if you want them darker, just leave them in a little longer.  The goal is really just to get them cooked thoroughly. These make a perfect addition to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. 

​Dehydrated Jalapenos
In addition to garlic, many other types of garden produce are perfect for dehydrating.  This year we had a bumper crop of jalapeno peppers.  The weather turned hot had dry this summer and the peppers loved it.  I quickly found that the easiest way to preserve these were to cut them in half and place them in the dehydrator after a good washing.
Dehydrating is by far less work than canning, pickling, or jellying them.  I have in the past made jalapeno jelly.  The work to balance the sugar and the pectin is not an easy job.  Sometimes the mix refuses to set up.  Other times the mix sets too hard. Also, this is a type of canning so again I had to sterilize jars and boil the final product.

Dehydrating yields better results than freezing in my opinion.  Frozen peppers can be kept for a while but they eventually always develop freezer burn or that “freezer taste”.  And there is always the threat of losing power.  If they thaw out, they have to be thrown out.

The dehydrated peppers work great for sauces and stews.  We just toss one or two in and they rehydrate from the liquid in the stew or sauce. They are very dry and brittle when they are done dehydrating.  This makes it easy to chop them up and crush them when using them.

These are shelf stable.  They require no more effort or electricity to store them.  I store them in cleaned reused jars in a cabinet with the other spices.

The one warning I will issue on this topic is it to wear food prep gloves when cutting the peppers, loading the dehydrator, and unloading the dehydrator.  The capsaicin can be strong and once it settles into your skin it will create a burning feeling that can last for hours. The dehydrating process does not seem to break down the capsaicin.  These peppers were too hot to handle even when I put them in the jar. I still need gloves to use them as an ingredient.

 Dehydrated Fennel Seeds

In addition to the peppers the fennel plant has done an amazing job this year. The plant soon grew to be the largest thing in the herb garden.  It was even larger than the statue it sits next to. The underground bulb part of this plant is edible. I have used fennel bulb in some recipes. But the more commonly used part of fennel is the seeds.  This is a common addition of ours to some rye breads, soda breads, and tomato sauces.

I patiently waited for the blooms to produce seeds.  I then waited for the seeds to turn a little brown.  Then I harvested and washed them.  I placed the whole seed heads into the dehydrator.  Then once the seeds and seed heads were totally dried, I separated the seeds from the stems and kept only the seeds. 

The last step of separating out the seeds was the most labor-intensive part of the whole process. This step is simple but takes time. I did this over many days while sitting and watching videos and doing other activities on the internet.

Like the peppers I store the dried fennel seeds in cleaned reused jars and they are shelf stable.