At last Sunday’s Avondale Market, I encountered a vegetable that I had not seen or heard of before: named after the French town of Crosne (near Paris – both with a silent ‘s’), where, apparently, they were first cultivated after their introduction from Asia (in 1882). Other names are Chinese artichoke, chorogi, knotroot and artichoke betony; taste appears to be similar to Jerusalem artichoke. These examples were grown in West Auckland, I was told by Matthew the stallholder.

Let me know of your culinary experiences and recipes/tips for this root vegetable. At $50 per kg (at least half of that probably going into the washing of the tubers), they better be good.

Some further reading here and here.