>Inulin, to the best of my knowledge, isn't
>indigestible raw, since acid turns it into fructose.
>That's why Jerusalem artichokes and viper's grass
>(scorzonera) were recommended diabetic food in days of
>yore. But maybe they need cooking first, if nothing
>else for taste reasons?

Inulins are mildly sweet and according to reports on the edibility of native
(American) tubers rich in inulin, highly prized by indigenous communities
(though almost always cooked to increase sweetness, presumably by conversion
to fructose), excluding those that also contain other foul-tasting or toxic
compounds.
I've read some conflicting reports on the digestibility of inulin. Some say
that that they can and others that they cannot be digested. It appears that
the reports that they can may have come from other reports/studies on the
use of inulin as a raw material for the production of high-fructose syrup by
an industrial process using acid. Perhaps some thought that since the
stomach contains acid, therefore inulin must be digestible to fructose in
the stomach.
On the other hand, inulin seems to be used as a "prebiotic" under the
thought that it is indigestible by us but is, like other oligo-saccharides
(in beans, for example), digested in the gut by bacteria. Gas, yay. This
also appears to be a reason they are/were recommended for diabetics -
because they are sweet but indigestible directly - though I can also see
fructose being the basis for that argument, since that was also promoted
until recently.

"Slow cooking (up to three days) promotes the conversion of inulin to its
individualized components of the sweet tasting and more digestible fructose.
The concentration of fructose in cooked camas is as high as 33% of the wet
weight or 43% of the dry weight (Turner et al., 1980)."
From:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/environmental/programs/culres/ethbot/a-c/Camassiaquamash.htm

On the use of chicory as an inulin crop and it's usefulness for producing
syrups and health food "prebiotics":
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/research/archives/researchfund/ofpdocs/fp4025.htm

Describes inulin as a fiber/indigestible sugar:
http://www.newhope.com/ffn/ffn_backs/sep-oct_01/fiber.cfm

Describes fructo-oligo-saccharides and their use as "health food" or
supplements:
http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/USA/HealthInformation/encyclopedias/FructoOligoSaccharides.asp

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