There are piles of arthritic-looking knobs of sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes) at the farmers market right now. Like mums and falling leaves, they shout 'fall'. So for a simple fall side dish, I paired the thin-cut slices with other fall favorites, apples and pancetta (some times called Italian bacon). Lovely! How do you recognize sunchokes? They look like knobs of ginger, about the same size, too. SUNCHOKE TIPS ... Do sunchokes need to be peeled? No, and a good thing since all the knobs would make that a fussy endeavor. Do sunchokes need to be washed? Yes, carefully, for between the knobs are pockets of collected earth. Just break off the knobs to wash. Must sunchokes be cooked? No, I like them raw, either grated (my favorite way, so far) or in chunks like a carrot. NEXT TIME ... I'll cook the sunchokes for awhile before adding the apples. These were a mite on the 'raw' side while the apples were quite soft. SAUTEED SUNCHOKES with APPLE