If you were asked to eat a thistle, would you? Or would you quickly decline and hope for a more appetizing food offer? What if you are already enjoying thistle?
Friends, The artichoke!
The artichoke is actually a species of thistle and the part we enjoy (dunked in a variety of sauces!) is an edible flower bud! Any of you who are fans of this tasty flower know that enjoying it comes with decent amount of work. The “scales” that make up the bud can be scraped, usually with our teeth, for their yummy flesh and eventually once those are consumed we find ourselves at the greatest prize, the artichoke heart! These gems are in season March-May and are not longer edible once they have flowered (how cool is this flower??!)
Another feature that sets artichokes apart, is that they are a food that is most often eaten in a communal setting. Taking turns sharing leaves an
d if you’re really lucky, splitting the delicious artichoke heart!!
Speaking of sharing, we LOVE when you share about us with your friends! And to say thanks you’ll get $30 of free groceries. Click here to learn more on that.
All in all, it’s a pretty easy dish. The prep is minimal, there’s just some patience required while it cooks! Here is the quick and simple way to enjoy this edible flower!
- Rinse the artichoke. If you’d like you can cut off any pointy tips on the petals with kitchen shears.
- Fill a large pot with water. Place all artichoke flowers down/ stems up, in the pot and cover with a lid.
- Bring water to a boil and cook for appx 30-40 min.
- You will know they’re done when you can easily pull off the bottom leaves with tongs ( like this)
- Finish the dish with an aioli sauce or, even easier, a small bowl of melted butter for dipping! MMMMMMM, butter.
After you’ve eaten the delicious base of the outer leaves. Pull out all of the inner leaves (purple) to reveal the spiky choke. Then you’ll take a spoon to scrape out the choke to reveal the oh-so-delicious heart beneath. This infographic from AsktheFoodGeek.com shows it perfectly:
So go ahead and enjoy those edible parts, especially the heart. Enjoy sharing it with friends or family!
