>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 _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus