Artichoke, Cynara scolymus
Gobe artichokes are considered to be a gourmet food but they are very fiddly to eat. The buds are harvested just before the flowers open, they are then usually boiled before being eaten. Only the base of each bract is eaten, plus the 'heart' or base that the petals grow from.
Small, or baby artichokes, that are produced on lateral stems can be pickled or used in soups and stews.
Plants yield about 5 to 6 main heads per year from their second year onwards.
The flowering stems can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked. A sweet nutty flavour.
Young leaf stems can be used as a celery substitute. They are normally blanched to remove the bitterness and then boiled or eaten raw. We find them too bitter to be enjoyable.
Leaves are edible cooked. A bitter flavour.
The dried flowers are a rennet substitute, used for curdling plant milks.
The globe artichoke has become important as a medicinal herb in recent years following the discovery of cynarin. This bitter-tasting compound, which is found in the leaves, improves liver and gallbladder function, stimulates the secretion of digestive juices, especially bile, and lowers blood cholesterol levels. The leaves are used internally in the treatment of chronic liver and gall bladder diseases, jaundice, hepatitis, arteriosclerosis and the early stages of late-onset diabetes. The leaves are best harvested just before the plant flowers, and can be used fresh or dried
After handling the plant or flowers, your hands will pass on a bitter flavour to everything they touch, so you may want to wear gloves.