Jerusalem artichoke: A comprehensive review of nutritional composition, health benefits and emerging trends in food applications.

The Jerusalem artichoke (JA), a plantrelated to sunflowers and native to North America, has long been valued for its versatility, especially during periods of food scarcity. This resilient crop serves multiple purposes, functioning as a vegetable, medicinal herb, grazing crop, and even a biofuel source. In recent years, interest in JA has grown, largely due to its high nutritional profile and associated health benefits. This review explores JA's nutritional composition, the benefits of its consumption, and its botanical and agricultural characteristics. Additionally, the various applications of JA in the food industry are discussed, including its use in dairy products, snacks, baked goods, beverages, and functional foods. This review also examines the processing techniques involved in harvesting JA, extracting its valuable components, and incorporating it into food products. Notably, JA is a rich source of fiber and minerals, and incorporating it into food products not only enhances their nutritional value but also improves fermentation processes, lowers the glycemic index, and enhances sensory properties, all while reducing production costs. However, several challenges remain in JA production. These include optimizing growing conditions, addressing high labor costs, developing suitable machinery, determining the ideal harvesting time, increasing pest resistance, identifying suitable packaging materials, and developing sustainable production strategies. These challenges require further research to fully unlock JA's potential as a valuable crop.