Clark

Pycnanthemum muticum is a broad leaf Mountain Mint and I think prefers partial shade. The one I have is Pycnanthemum tenuifolium with very narrow needle like leaves and it prefers more direct sun. From a distance it looks like Rosemary. The Fuseau variety of Sunchoke I have grows up to 12'! That's really a bit much for an in-town lot. The others I have grow to about 5' to 6'+. There's one small patch behind the High School that grows only to about 3' and a couple patches over near Prontock's that grow around 6'+. Out in the Stump Creek area is where I got the 12'. I prefer cleaning the Fuseau. Like cleaning carrots, just rub them between your hands under running water and you're done. The Stampede and the Fescue are knobby and sometimes you have to break them apart to get all the dirt off of them.

The Slender Mountain Mint I have is shown here. Very slender leaves, pretty white flower heads that turn into 3/8" buttons. You have to strip a lot of those leaves to get enough to do much with! They grow just shy of 2' tall and prefer good afternoon sun. We haven't tried a 'Choke pie yet. Last fall I got a note from down south about a pear and 'choke pie that won first prize in a state fair. No recipe available ... darn. We've had them raw, sliced in salads and the whole root to munch on. Roasted with some butter or oil and a dab of salt and pepper is good. The plain ones canned we've tossed into soups and stews and pan fried like home fries. We harvest most in the fall before the Inulin converts to fructose. After winter the freezing converts the Inulin and they're super sweet with a lot less gas for people who are sensitive to the gas they can produce. Spring is the best time to harvest for those who are troubled with the gas. The Inulin helps promote good gut health and they don't stir up too much wind for us. They're sprouting now. When the ground temp reaches 50°F they're triggered into sprouting. I've got quite a bit on a 1 1/2 in-town lot and the neighborhood rabbits sure love them, they're trimming the new leaves right off.

I currently have two collected natives. One is uncommon, the other is fairly common but relatively unknown by the general public. The uncommon native I have is a Slender Mountain Mint that I rescued from the railroad embankment in DuBois. On the embankment, it would have been uprooted, sprayed or otherwise destroyed in a matter of time. I got it about four years ago and since then I have it in three containers where I first divided it to determine how invasive it is. Like any other mint it does spread, it spreads slowly by root and rarely by seed. It spreads quite slowly compared to other mints and results in a woody stem in fall. I planted it along one foundation wall to see how well mowing contains it. Excellent. Fresh, it has a mild minty and grassy flavor, dried, it somewhat resembles Tarragon. We've tried in in teas and in cooking with success. The other native I have is Sunchoke, AKA Jerusalem Artichoke, Topinambours by the French and called by the Algonquins 'Kaishúcpenauk', a compound of "sun" and "tubers". The Mohawk name is Ohnennata’ó:we, original potato. To those of the Manglish persuasion they're called Fartichokes. They're full of a soluble prebiotic healthy fiber known as Inulin which can cause gas. They were quite common up until WWI times when they became known as a poor man's food. They're an eastern American relative of the Sunflower, a perennial root vegetable used extensively by Native Americans and Colonials from the Carolinas into Quebec and as far west as the Mississippi Valley. The Colonials spread them all around the world. A friend of mine in Tasmania remembers her mother cooking with them when she was a child. Worldwide, including here in eastern America, it's estimated that there are over 400 varieties. I have three and know of a few more around the DuBois area. Very few people who have them growing in flower beds know what they really have. They grow from 3' tall up to 12' tall. The ones I have grow 5', 6'+ and 12'. The tubers on two varieties are tan, one is knobby and a bit hard to clean, the other resembles carrots in size and shape and are easy to clean. The third type has a red skinned slightly knobby tuber. We harvest and can them. They're an excellent potato substitute, especially for diabetics. We've canned them plain like potatoes and like pickles and relishes. In my opinion, they are better than cukes for pickles and relish! We also dried some raw chips and ground them into flour. Quite interesting mixed with other flour, the flavor and texture is hard to describe, but it is good. They can also be boiled, mashed and dried and used like potato flakes.The entire plant is edible! Rabbits, deer and others love the leaves and tender sprouts. I've made wine from the flowers and tuber broth. The mature stalks are woody and don't mulch well unless chipped and mixed into the soil as the roots are dug.