Does anyone actually eat this green leather.

[michaeljohnson]

I was wondering if any of you actually eats (Globe Artichokes) which to me tastes like chewing green leather every time I have tried them "Yuk"- I have tried them in all stages of growth but they still taste like green leather to me, and not worth the bother.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Ha! Ha! You didn't actually think that "choke" has nothing to do with describing the plant? Giggles.

I thought the only edible part of the plant was the inside of the blossom, (which is very soft)...

I eat them about once a year, just to make sure my taste likes haven't changed... But my season is too short to grow them locally, and i am too cheap to pay much, so I always end up getting shipped artichokes that are way past their prime, so I don't particularly like them, but I keep eating them just in case I grow into different likes. And who knows... one day I might actually get one that ripened on the plant.


Regards,
Joseph
Planting, planting, planting

[ottawagardener]

They don't grow easily here but you aren't enticing me. What variety do you grow?

[michaeljohnson]

I personally don't grow any, the only ones I ever ate was from the supermarket supplies, and I hate them every time I try and eat them.

It is just the same with Asparagus spears- all the ones that I try are woody stems, the only bit I can eat is the last four inches of the tip-all the rest is too woody and stringy,

[blue rabbit]

I grew up eating artichokes - it's absolutely delish when you cook them in a stew (the "hearts", not leaves of the bud) with chicken and a touch of lemon. It's awfully expensive to buy in the supermarkets here in Canada and it does take a great deal of work to clean up the buds. I would have loved to grow it but our season is way too short for this giant thistle.

My grandmother used to steam the hearts lightly and marinate them in olive oil, garlic and herbs. She's Italian, so everything gets marinated in olive oil, garlic and herbs

You can find jars of marinated artichoke hearts in any good Italian supermarket nowadays. It makes amazing pizza topping or even tossed with pasta and fresh tomato sauce.

[ozarklady]

I absolutley love them! I could quite happily live on them. Just steamed, then dip in butter and lemon, dash of salt... awww heaven!

My husband says you could starve eating them, since they are slow going, when you eat them leaf by leaf. So, I have them for lunch... and take my time.

I hear they will grow here, but I can't get seeds to even grow! I need to get serious about getting some.

[mnjrutherford]

Italian and I THINK Spanish varieties are supposed to be much better than the globe. If you like artichokes, you'll eat the globes and be grateful. If you don't.... ;o)

Cortona, if you are reading this, can you get artichoke seed?

[atash]

Yes, I do eat artichokes, and I grow them too.

Michael, I wonder if you are not cooking them long enough. They shouldn't be tasting anything like green leather, and that sounds very suspiciously like a description of trying to eat them extremely undercooked. They take FORTY-FIVE MINUTES in a pressure-cooker!

You put water in the bottom of a pressure cooker, add a steamer basket, put the artichokes in the steamer basket (above the water so they don't soak in it), put the lid on, bring to full pressure, and let them pressure-steam that long.

It's hard to get them just right, so sometimes mine are falling apart when I take them out. That's better than trying to eat them at all undercooked.

Properly cooked, they are tender and have a distinct "nutty" flavor, with a strangely sweet aftertaste. Artichoke is almost sinfully rich.

Folks, if you are just pulling the "meat" off the undersides of the bracts, you are missing be best part!!! Once you've stripped all the bracts (the leaf-like things around the bud), pull off the flowers (the unpleasant fuzzy stuff, sometimes colored a little purplish) and eat the base of the bud, which is absolutely delicious. My kids contend for it, and I often don't get any.

Artichokes are huge plants compared to the size of the food you get off of them; not very productive at all. They are, however, rich in minerals and, oddly, protein. That's where they get their "meaty", "nutty" flavor.

Artichokes are not very cold-hardy, most varieties only taking down to about 20F/-7.5C. Seattle got slightly colder than that last year, and all of mine died. I am replacing them with another variety, "Emerald", which is reputedly far coldhardier and does not require "vernalization", which means in some parts of the country too cold for them, they can, nevertheless, be grown as annuals.

Otherwise, they are perennials. Nice architectural looking plants, quite common here but more as ornamentals than as food--most people seem to forget to harvest them. Once they bloom it's too late; the turn tough.

[michaeljohnson]

I cant quite remember how we cooked them as it is such a long time since I tried them last, I think we boiled them in water with a dash of salt for about half an hour, according to tradition in the UK you are supposed to pull off each petiole or leaf section and draw them through your teeth and sluff off the green stuff-leaving only a few veined threads in your hand afterwards-but all mine have been as tough as leather and I could not chew any of them at all.

another strange food that does not agree with me at all is those Blue Button mushrooms that you see on sale in the uk at certain times of the year that have purple stalks where they have cut them and a purplish tinge to the gills of an otherwise creamy coloured muchroom,

Some people cant get enough of them and swear they are marvelous-but to me they taste like nicotine flavour absolutely horrible, and they make me throw up every single time I have attempted to eat any- about ten minutes is usually enough time before I throw up with them, and yet some people eat pounds of them- all other types of mushrooms don't have any effect like that on me.

[denninmi]

Yes, I've eaten many of them, but ironically, the times I've grown Imperial Star and had them produce, I've never cut them, because they are far too pretty in the garden with those enormous thistle flowers.

If I want to eat artichokes, frankly canned or frozen is so much simpler, just open and dump into the recipe. Lazy, I know.

[wildseed57]

I love mine added to salads, I chop out the hearts them boil a bit in salted water, the dunked in Olive oil, lemon and lime juice and then placed on the grill to finish them off, then I either chop them into smaller pieces and add them to salads or I grind them into a ruff paste and make a antipesto with them which is really nice as the smoky flavor is very nice in it. I will also make a soup with them that has chicken and hot peppers in it. Since I moved from Calif. fourty years ago I have to buy them now, although this year I'm trying to grow some Cardoons which is a relative to them. I like the little purple ones best and not the big globe ones, as the smaller types just seem to have a better flavor.
George W.

[ozarklady]

I haven't pressure cooked them. And I think possibly you are eating them undercooked, they should be steamed above water, not in it, I tried them in water, they taste watery.

But, you steam them until the stem is tender and your fingernail will go into it. And the leaves should simply pull straight off with no pressure at all. I do remove the flower part and eat the stem base, in fact even the stem is not too bad.

I have never tried them canned or frozen, nor in recipes, only straight.

[atash]

I think we boiled them in water with a dash of salt for about half an hour

As strange as it might seem, half an hour boiling isn't long enough. No wonder they were tough and leathery. And OzarkLady is right; they are better steamed than boiled. Boil them and they're going to lose all their distinctive flavor.

I think pressure-steaming is the fastest and easiest way to cook them.

Yes, the inside of the stem is not bad.

Cardoons you eat anything that's tender after blanching the whole plant (tying it up like some people do celery, so that it's pale and tender). Cardoons are just wild artichokes, but what amazes me is that they are cold-hardier than their domesticated descendants. Counterintuitive considering that people try to grow artichokes well north of their native range, so you'd think they would have picked up some additional coldhardiness--instead of lost it! Artichokes often freeze to death in our more severe winters, but Cardoons don't usually. Cardoons are tough.

[toad]

Another artichoke fan here!

If picking the chokes young, I also cut a good part of the stem. The stem is also great, prepared as the globe, and then shredded for fibres.

I've even heard of someone, who eat the bleached leaves in autumn (like cardoon), adding a bit of wood ash to the boiling water to act against the bitterness.

In general no variety survives in our wet winters, but some old clones have a high rate of survival. Under a sheet of glass sustained by plasticpots, they all survived this winter with prolonged frost.