- [Camelia] Some friends came to me with this crumpled up brown paper bag with these gnarly looking things in it.

(mambo music) And I said, "What do you do with them?"

And he said, "Well, these are Jerusalem artichokes.

"They're delicious to eat."

He said, "Just throw them in the ground "and you'll have them forever."

(mambo music) My name is Camelia Frieberg.

I'm a biodynamic farmer and seed saver.

What I generally do is, as many as I can harvest in the late fall, which is the best time to harvest them because they just get much sweeter after a few frosts, and it's very rewarding.

You just see this incredible cluster of these things hanging down.

Sometimes they have ears and budding arms.

(laughs) They're really kind of, it's hard not to laugh every time you look at another one.

Every one looks different, which is maybe why they've never been used in industrial agriculture, because there is no uniformity, and we know industrial agriculture loves uniformity.

But that's the delightful part about them.

(mambo music) Because they are so gnarly and bulbous and oddly-shaped, don't worry about peeling them, it's really not necessary.

Just take a good brush and scrub them down under a lot of running water.

It has a very distinct flavor though.

Once you've tasted it, you will always know its flavor.

The thing to consider though is that they do have a tendency to, in some people more than others, create a fair amount of gas.

They're called Jerusalem artichoke, but amongst my kids and many others, they're called fartichokes.

(chuckles) So just starting a couple years ago because I ferment so many different things, I thought let's just try these crazy looking creatures.

When I pickle things, I don't use vinegar, I just use your simple lacto-fermented salt brine pickle.

I grew up on kosher pickles, and I had an uncle and aunt who made the most amazing pickles, and they used to throw all kinds of things into their pickle jars.

There were cauliflower and carrots and green tomatoes and whatever was in the garden at the time, so I really learned that you could pickle anything.

So I thought, well, why not Jerusalem artichoke?

So I just discovered that they are delicious that way, and they aren't as farty as if you were to eat them any other way.

I like to put a grape leaf on the top.

The tannic acid in the grape leaf helps retain some of the crispness.

So I fill it right up, put on the lids, and after a couple of days I might notice some little bubbles coming up the sides.

I usually can't help myself and I have to open them and nibble one, and I go, ooh, after two days that's good, but it's gonna better.

Then usually by day five or six, I've eaten a little bit more, and then I throw it in the fridge.

So now it will last in the fridge for a good few months.

(birds chirping) Can you use the word farty?

I haven't made that too hard for you?

(ragtime piano)