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by aftoprokrustes
698 days ago
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If I trust Wikipedia, even today the term "Erdapfel" is used to refer to topinambour in some regions: "Mancherorts in Baden wird Topinambur als Erdapfel bezeichnet."
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topinambur#:~:text=Mancherorts.... Topinambour would have been available in the middle ages. Confusion with potato by the modern reader is understandable, as a topinambour does look similar to a potato, and some German dialects (e.g. Swiss dialects) name potatoes "Erdapfel". |
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No, Helianthus tuberosus [1] aka "topinambur" is Jerusalem artichoke which would not have been available at the time. It's a New World crop just like the potato.
We're talking about a book written in 1462, before the Columbian exchange. The plant wasn't introduced to Europe until the early 17th century.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus_tuberosus