Artichoke also called globe artichoke or French artichoke, is a large thistle-like perennial plant of the aster family grown for its edible flower buds. The thick bracts and the receptacle of the immature flower head, known as the heart, are a culinary delicacy. The artichoke’s flavour is delicate and nutlike, and the smaller heads or buds, are usually the most tender. Artichoke heads are served as a hot vegetable with a sauce or as a cold salad or appetizer.

Native to the western and central Mediterranean, the artichoke was domesticated and carried to the eastern Mediterranean in ancient times, though it was then valued for its young leaves rather than the immature flower heads. The edible-flower form was first recorded in Italy around 1400, and today it is extensively cultivated in Mediterranean countries, the Americas, and other regions with the necessary rich soil and mild, humid climate.

Artichoke plants feature deeply toothed large leaves that grow up to one metre long and that die each year after flowers are formed. The plants produce rosettes of sturdy branched flower stalks with purple flower heads. After four to eight years the cluster of rosettes becomes crowded, and the size and quality of the heads become reduced. The plant is then renewed by planting divisions of the rosette crown or rooted offshoots. Although the mature flower heads produce seeds, the seedlings do not necessarily resemble the variety of the parent plant, so vegetative propagation is preferred.

Artichoke Fun Facts:

The artichoke is technically a flower bud that has not yet bloomed.

Artichokes were introduced to England by the Dutch in the 1500s and were brought to the United States in the 19th century by French and Spanish immigrants.

March 16th is National Artichoke Heart Day.

Until the 16th century, women were prohibited from eating them in many countries because they were still considered to have aphrodisiac properties.

Artichokes should never be cooked in aluminium pots. They tend to turn the pots a grey colour.

The top artichoke producers today are Spain, France, and Italy.

California produces 100% of the United States artichoke crop, with Castroville, California calling itself the “Artichoke Centre of the World.”

In 1947 Marilyn Monroe, then still going by her given name Norma Jean, was crowned Castroville’s first Artichoke Queen.