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Yankee Pier: Eat Your Heart Out
Now that spring is in our sight, it’s time to celebrate a mysterious and beautiful seasonal vegetable—the artichoke. Technically the bud of a thistle, this plant grows wild in North Africa at the south of Europe but is cultivated in the United States, largely in California, with 80% of all commercially grown artichokes coming from Castroville alone, “The Artichoke Center of the World.”
There is mention of the artichoke in Greek and Roman literature as far back as 77 AD, but the plant did not travel far until the Dutch brought it to England in 1500s, where it was not well-received. In the 1600s it arrived in California but was not widely known about and utilized until the early 1900s, when Italian farmers exported the plant to New York, where it was so well-received, racketeers terrorized distributors and produce merchants, even going so far as to physically attack the artichoke fields with machetes by night. These ‘artichoke wars’ caused the mayor of New York City to declare the sale, display or possession of artichokes illegal. This ban lasted only a week but caused its demand and popularity to soar nationwide, even reaching celebrity status, with Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe being crowned “The Artichoke Queen” in 1948.
The artichoke’s beauty and mystery revolve around its appearance and anatomy. If not harvested from its rootstock, the bud will grow into a beautiful, blue-violet, inedible flower. If harvested for eating, the result is green and globe shaped, with thorns, semi-edible petals, a fluffy center, the choke, and the heart, the velvety, nutty meat at the very core of the bud.
So how to cook, how to eat? Two good questions for an armor-ridden vegetable. Generally, the first thing to do is cut the excess stem and trim the thorned leaf tips down, pulling off smaller, insignificant leaves. Rinse in cold water, and steam until the outer leaves can be easily pulled off, usually from 25-45 minutes. Eating is the trickier task. Pull off the outer leaves one by one, dipping the white fleshy end in a sauce if desired (usually melted butter or mayonnaise), placing in mouth, biting down and dragging through the teeth to remove the pulpy portion of the petal, discarding after, continuing with all petals, with the exception of the last few, which, if tender enough, can be eaten entirely. With a knife or spoon, then remove and discard the inedible, fuzzy choke, yielding at last, the heart. And although for many, this is the most delicious, rewarding part of the experience, eating an artichoke is definitely a case in life where the journey is just as important as the destination.
