Jerusalem Artichokes

[boxtops]

Just listening to David Attenborough on the radio, about the origins of names of certain plants and vegetables, and how some items which are quite dissimilar carry the same name, e.g. potato and sweet potato. Here's the one about Jerusalem Artichokes:

When Columbus went to America, they landed and started tasting everything to see if it was the sources of the spices for cooking which they were seeking.
They found a sunflower-like plant where the flower head tasted like artichoke (which was originally Arabic and is named from the Arabic for "thistle"). Columbus & Co. therefore called it Artichoke too, because it tasted the same.
Columbus took it back to Spain where, because it looked like a sunflower, they named it Gerasole (sp).
When it came to us, we didn't want to use the Spanish name so it became corrupted to Jerusalem (which was a familiar word). Hence - we have the tuberous root, Artichoke, and the flower head Jerusalem Artichoke. No similarity between the two in shape, only in taste.
Fascinating stuff!

[woofgang]

I think "didn't want" is maybe not quite right. There is a tendency on the part of any nation to mishear foreign words and say what we think they are. The most famous example being the anglicisation of "Ca ne fait rien" of the French Soldiers to "San Fairy Ann" by the Brits. Like sunflowers, Artichokes turn towards the sun hence Gira (gyrate) Sole (sun)