eating artichokes.

[drcoastline]

Damn you Vash starting this thread. This is all I can think about now.

This looks like a good artichoke soup recipe.

[Seahawk]

I remember going to the Artichoke Festival as a kid!

https://artichokefestival.org/general-info/

https://www.seemonterey.com/events/food-wine/artichoke-festival/

[unclebilly]

I like artichokes. Artichokes do not like me, or the others around me after I have eaten them.

[masraum]

How in the hell do you know you've gotten a good artichoke? Is bigger better? smaller? fat "petals"?

[vash]

Originally Posted by masraum

How in the hell do you know you've gotten a good artichoke? Is bigger better? smaller? fat "petals"?

talking to a farmers market person.

you look for the freshest looking cut end of the stem..and you pinch a leaf on the thistle and bend it back. if it snaps cleanly it is good to go. if it bends and doesnt snap, move on.

[David]

I love them and so does my mom so I've eaten from a young age.

We steam them, eat them a leaf at a time until the leaves are too thin then go for the heart.

We took a cooking course in Paris a couple years ago and there was a couple from Kansas who had never eaten one before. How is that possible?

[javadog]

Originally Posted by masraum

How in the hell do you know you've gotten a good artichoke? Is bigger better? smaller? fat "petals"?

Look for one that has the petals closed tightly. Don’t buy them if this is not the case.

Better ones meet that criteria and also are dark green, have thick petals and feel heavy for their weight compared to others.

Plus, what Vash said. He’s close to the source, so his will be fresh. You, living out in the middle of nowhere, will have to be aware of older ones.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Love artichokes, grew up having these made by my off the boat Italian great grandmother. Italian bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic and EVOO. Great comfort food. For just steamed I make a dijon mayo dip.

[ted]

My mom loved artichokes.
When I was very young she told me not to eat the artichoke hearts.
Instead to give them to her.
That worked for a few years.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by masraum

How in the hell do you know you've gotten a good artichoke? Is bigger better? smaller? fat "petals"?

All I know is the best artichokes I've ever had were ones that I bought from a roadside in Castroville. They might have been picked that day or the day before.

Cooked them right when we got home and they had intense flavor and very tender.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

talking to a farmers market person.

you look for the freshest looking cut end of the stem..and you pinch a leaf on the thistle and bend it back. if it snaps cleanly it is good to go. if it bends and doesnt snap, move on.

Originally Posted by javadog

Look for one that has the petals closed tightly. Don’t buy them if this is not the case.

Better ones meet that criteria and also are dark green, have thick petals and feel heavy for their weight compared to others.

Plus, what Vash said. He’s close to the source, so his will be fresh. You, living out in the middle of nowhere, will have to be aware of older ones.

Originally Posted by craigster59

All I know is the best artichokes I've ever had were ones that I bought from a roadside in Castroville. They might have been picked that day or the day before.

Cooked them right when we got home and they had intense flavor and very tender.

Thanks, Gents!

[vash]

Originally Posted by ted

My mom loved artichokes.
When I was very young she told me not to eat the artichoke hearts.
Instead to give them to her.
That worked for a few years.

Shrewd!! hahah..i would call child protective services.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Love artichokes, grew up having these made by my off the boat Italian great grandmother. Italian bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic and EVOO. Great comfort food. For just steamed I make a dijon mayo dip.

interesting. can you still taste the artichokyness?

i think Zeke mentioned before that a quick steam in a pressure cooker is the way to go, and i have been doing it like for a few years.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Absolutely. It looks like a lot of stuffing because it is though some leaves have very little but you can pull a leaf off and knock off the stuffing and scrape the leaf or pull and eat with stuffing. Either way you do get a great artichoke flavor.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by craigster59

All I know is the best artichokes I've ever had were ones that I bought from a roadside in Castroville. They might have been picked that day or the day before.

Cooked them right when we got home and they had intense flavor and very tender.

Well, Castroville is the center of the artichoke universe, as far as I’m concerned. Those that live in that part of the country are lucky, in more ways than one.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by craigster59

All I know is the best artichokes I've ever had were ones that I bought from a roadside in Castroville. They might have been picked that day or the day before.

Cooked them right when we got home and they had intense flavor and very tender.

Well, Castroville is the center of the artichoke universe, as far as I’m concerned. Those that live in that part of the country are lucky, in more ways than one.

That’s the one thing that most of the rest of the world has over the US, what they cook is fresh, picked when ready. Those of us in the flyover states can only dream of such things.

[Otter74]

I love artichokes, and grew up eating them with some regularity. I had not had an artichoke in years when there were baby artichokes available at the farmer's market I got to last Saturday. My GF and I had some with dinner the other night. My dishes are the ones my parents got in 1968 when they got married, and are massively comprehensive - so I have a set of eight little artichoke-butter dishes and gleefully used them for the melted butter with lemon that we ate them with. I eat them exactly the way David-in-Houston does, with butter and with mayonnaise. Those dishes are probably just butter dishes but I will only ever think of them as artichoke-butter dishes. I love the "mayonnaise spoon" description and am stealing that.

[WPOZZZ]

I've only had artichokes in dip. What does it taste like?

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

I've only had artichokes in dip. What does it taste like?

Hard to explain. But better than the dip Plus they are very much a health food. I've only had them baked.