I have a love-hate relationship with sunchokes: I love their taste and crunch, but hate the explosive gas I get from them if I eat too many. So I don’t eat too many. One fantastic solution is to make this sweet and spicy pickle recipe. You don’t end up eating huge amounts of sunchokes — also known as Jerusalem artichokes — and I have never been striken with gas after eating these.

The key here is to use small pieces, like 1/2 inch or smaller. If you try to pickle them larger the middle of them will be soft and icky, not crunchy.

Makes 3 quarts

• 2-3 pounds sunchokes (choose small ones if possible)
• Juice of 2-3 lemons
• 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup kosher or pickling salt
• 3 tablespoons turmeric
• 4 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1-2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you want them)
• 2 tablespoons mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon chile flakes or 1 dried chile per quart
• 1 clove per quart
• 1 bay leaf per quart

1. Cut sunchokes into 1/2 inch pieces and put any cut pieces into a bowl of water with the lemon juice in it — they will discolor otherwise.
2. When you have them all cut, mix the 4 cups water, 1 tablespoon of the turmeric and the 1/3 cup salt. This is your brine. Brine the sunchokes for a day.
3. To make the pickling liquid, mix the vinegar, sugar, 1 cup water, the rest of the turneric, mustard seed, dry mustard, chiles, cloves and bay leaves (basically everything else) and bring to a boil. Stir well and let it cool to room temperature.
4. Get your hot water bath ready if you plan to can these. Skip this if you plan on keeping the pickles in the fridge.
5. Fish out a chile, clove and bay leaf and put one in each jar.
6. Rinse the sunchokes well, then pack into jars. Cover with the cooled vinegar mixture. Make sure to leave at least 1/4 inch of headspace if you are canning.
7. Process in a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes.
8. Wait at least a week before eating.

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