A perfect winter soup made with this little vegetable, gently fried and softened with chopped celery and carrot in butter, then blended in a generous splash of vegetable stock, has become a family favourite and a nailed-on starter on Christmas Day.

Oh delicious knobbly root,
Criminally underrated.
This tribute comes heartfelt,
Much deserved, if belated.
Wrenched from the muddy depths,
The allotment yields its treasure.
Scrubbed fiercely ‘neath running tap,
For your eating pleasure.
Blended in soup or roasted whole,
Perfect on a cold winters day.
This humble sunflower tuber,
Will blow you right away.
But beware a starch named inulin,
In which this root is rich.
Tough on your digestion,
It could leave you with a stitch.
Or worse if you really overdo it,
Beware to temper your bite.
Eat too much of this little beauty,
You could end up flying a kite.
Oh delicious knobbly root,
Herewith you are updated.
With straining trouser belt,
Feeling satisfied, if deflated.

(My thanks to Emma and John for the photograph of the soup which appears above).
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