Potatoes & Topinambour
Seeds for potatoes, tompinambour, Jerusalem artichokes and other potato-like plant tubers. The potato's exciting cultural history is well known - it came to Europe as an old crop of the Incas in 1570 via Spain and England, and already in the 17th century it belonged to the main staple foods of the European population.
Topinambour has a similar cultural history as the potato. However, it is a completely different species. It also originates from Central and South America, but the Topinambour came to Europe in 1612 and also enjoyed great popularity especially in France.
Elsewhere in Europe, however, it was soon superseded by the potato. Potatoes and topinambour, which is also called Jerusalem artichokes, are very similar concerning their uses in the kitchen. They can be cooked as a whole tuber, mashed, grated, used for salad and soup. Unlike the potato, Jerusalem artichokes can be eaten raw. Moreover, topinambour contains none of the toxic solanine occuring in potato seeds and the aboveground growing green plant parts.
