Artichokes

I love to eat artichoke hearts but do not know how to eat a whole artichoke. How does one go about cooking and eating a whole artichoke?

How to eat an artichoke by Alice B Toklas

Not sure that I'm an expert. My dad grew up in California, and hand an aunt that lived in Moss Landing, near Castroville, where most of the spring artichokes sold in the US come from. It's a few miles north of Monterey and all three cities are located in very beautiful places. I think there is a power plant there where my father's aunt lived.

Here's how we eat artichokes, but I can't say that I've ever seen a description of eating them in this manner. Most people are after the choke alone but we savor the leaves too.

So it's a little hard to describe, but I'll do my best.

To cook the artichokes

• Bring a huge pot of water to boil leaving enough space in the pan to add the artichokes. They're these huge flowers, and takes a large pot just for a few.
• Add to the pot of boiling water 4 - 6 or more cloves of garlic.
• Add the artichokes, after first cutting the sharp points from the leaves of the artichoke.
• Reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 45 minutes. Then use a large strainer to remove the cooked artichokes from the pot and place on a large plate.

To eat the artichoke

• Let the cooked artichoke cool some. They'll burn you otherwise.
• While cooking make a dipping sauce, either:
  • fill a small cereal bowl with mayonnaise, or
  • melt 3 - 4 tbsp of butter, and add 1 tbsp lemon juice. Add a little garlic if you like.
• Serve one artichoke per person. Adjust quantities of the dip and allow at least 1/4 cup of the lemon/butter or mayonnaise per serving.
• Serve each artichoke on a bread plate along with another plate for the eaten leaves.
• To eat the artichoke, pull a leaf from the choke, and dip into the dip. Then close your mouth tight, and using your teeth scrape the soft part of the leaf off. The outer leaves have less 'meat' to them, and as you eat inward there is more and more reward.
• When you finally reach the 'choke', use a spoon or fork to scrape off the feathery stuff. Then dip the artichoke choke into the dip and enjoy the reward.

In the spring time you can get huge artichokes from Ocean Mist that are phenomenal and can serve as a meal in themselves.

I'm not an expert in cooking artichokes but eat them using my hands.

I pull out each leaf and scrape the flesh off with my teeth before discarding any leaves on a plate. The tender base can be eaten with cutlery.

Baby artichokes, I eat them whole, including their outer leaves and choke.

Alice, thanks for the detailed instructions for properly eating an artichoke. I followed what you said and really enjoyed the artichokes we had last night for dinner. We chose to dip our leaves in melted butter with a little lemon juice added. I really appreciated the tip about scraping off the hairy stuff above the choke, could not imagine eating that....haha

I have never eaten whole artichokes, only artichoke hearts. However, as many people as I have seen rave about them, I really should give it a try. I'm sure I would become addicted. The hearts sure are delicious.

I usually steam artichokes as apposed to boiling them. I don't know what difference it makes, but that's just the way I learned. Cut the sharp part of leaves off, and peel a few of the outer leaves off and rinse thouroughly before steaming. I steam them untill the leaves pull away from the choke easily. I usually use mayo as my dipping of choice.

TexasRose said:

I have never eaten whole artichokes, only artichoke hearts. However, as many people as I have seen rave about them, I really should give it a try. I'm sure I would become addicted. The hearts sure are delicious.

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Yes, do try whole artichokes. They are a treat. They are best here in the US either in January - February, or April-May. In January the artichokes are grown in the desert of southern California. In April-May, they are grown where you may think of as the normal range of artichokes, which is the Castroville, California area. If you can get fresh artichokes in peak season they're incredible. I went to Castroville in 2001 and brought some fresh artichokes home on the plane with me. We ate in heaven for a few days!

We boil them for about 45 minutes (after snipping the sharp points off the leaves), and then serve the whole artichoke with a lemon butter dip. We eat the whole artichoke, scraping the meat from the leaves with our teeth after dipping the leaf in the lemon butter mix. The choke in the artichoke is the prize we reach after eating all of the leaves with some meat on them.

You really need to try them. If you haven't had them yet, wait until the big ones get to the stores in the early winter / spring. Otherwise you'll not get the real artichoke.

I think some people stuff them, but I haven't stuffed an artichoke. I just eat them leaf by leaf until I get to the choke.

When I look at artichokes in the grocery store I think "who would eat those". Much like I wonder who was the first person to want to eat a Maryland Blue Crab.

I haven't had an artichoke in my lifetime. Sounds like I might be missing out on something and will try to remember to get one when they look fresh in the store. Most of the time I see them, they are these dried out looking green things.

I am with you. never had them either. But this topic make me want to go out and buy some to try. thanks.

I just always used canned quartered artichoke hearts . But I think that Rachael Ray has a whole artichoke recipe in her 30 minute meals 2 cookbook!