Globe artichokes – a slow food experience

Credit: Carolyn Herriot

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Globe artichokes are highly ornamental at this stage of their development, which is a pity because this is when they are best to eat!

A Slow Food Experience

Harvest the artichoke flowers just before they start to open, leaving three inches of stalk attached. Stand them in a saucepan of boiling water with a sprig of bay leaves and a lemon cut in half. Boil, covered, for 25 minutes. Drain and eat as soon as you can. While cooking, prepare the dipping sauce.

The Dipping Sauce

Sauté 6 French shallots, finely chopped with
2 Tbsp. white wine
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
Slowly stir in 1/4 cup butter ’til melted and sauce thickens
Add 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove each bract individually from the flower bud, and swoosh it gently across the sauce. Delicately scrape the seasoned fleshy base off the bract with your teeth. As you get closer to the heart, each bract will have more flesh to enjoy. The fleshiest part of the flower bud is the heart. Before eating it, make sure you remove the thistly hairs or they will choke you. The sweetest delicacy awaits, as you finally savour the succulent heart – a moment worth waiting for!

Return to the Victory Garden Program.