I sometimes get a bit stuck for weekly ideas for this letter, but if I dig deep I always find some inspiration. Usually from the dishes that I eat and the chefs that I meet.

Right now Jerusalem artichokes, which are just about to leave us for this season, are my favourites. Part of the sunflower family, they are sometimes known as sunchokes. It’s not only because they seem to be rare and unknown, but also because of their magical big flavor of nuttiness and the mouthfeel they create. One would expect them to be starchy like potatoes seeing as they look similar, but smaller, and grow as tubers under the ground. Some vegetable gardeners say once you have them in the ground they are a menace that you can’t get rid of. Won’t be the case for me!

They are also incredibly good for you as they contain the most natural insulin of all vegetables. They are great simply roasted with olive oil, but they also love truffle oil and smoked salt or – as in a recipe that I found in my favorite cookbook at the moment, Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison – cooked as a bisque with pumpkin seed oil and sunflower sprouts.

A type of artichoke that I have never seen grown here, on the shelves or on a menu, is the cardoon or artichoke thistle.

I first saw these plants grown on the side of the roads in Spain and Italy. They grow in huge prickly clusters and look a bit like thistles or globe artichokes and the stems look Iike very wide celery stalks which is the part that you eat. A chef prepared them by poaching them in a very good extra virgin olive oil that had a taste of green tomatoes and some salty olives.

I would imagine they would go nicely in a risotto with toasted hazelnuts and maybe even some sunchokes. But if all else fails, they do make a great hedge!

Happy cooking and eating!
Abigail

Want to give Jerusalem artichokes a shot? Try this moreish recipe for Jerusalem artichoke soup from the team at Pierneef a La Motte.

Photograph: Jerusalem artichokes and appples by Skanska Matupplevelser.