In my experience, most people have never eaten real artichokes.  Sure, they’ve had artichoke hearts or artichoke dip.  But the whole artichoke? Nope!  In fact, most people are very surprised to learn that portions of the artichoke leaves are not just edible, but yummy!

Artichokes are actually a biennial plant.  That means that they don’t set the fruit until the second year.  I’ve always wanted to grow them, but never have before this year.  This is what the plant looks like in the garden right now. 

This is just the first year, so we’ll have to wait til next year to see if they survive the winter (I’m not convinced they will) and actually continue to grow and produce an edible artichoke.  

For now, I purchase artichokes from the grocery store.   I choose artichokes that are very tightly closed.

So how do you cook them?  

Start with curly parsley (ours is picked from the garden). 

Wash your hands with goat milk soap.

Remove some garlic cloves from the bulb:

Jade smashes them to make them easier to peel:

Peel the individual cloves:

While Jade readies the garlic, Emery cuts the tops and bottoms off the artichoke. You want the bottom to be flush, and the top you want to cut off the tips of the leaves so you can spread the artichoke open.

Turn the artichoke upside down and smush it around a bit to try and open up the artichoke (think like a flower bud opening up). You want to be able to fill the inside with parsley and garlic.

Pull apart the leaves on the artichoke, to make room for the parsley and garlic . (You can see Jim in the background getting the ingredients ready to make Marinade.)

Stuff the artichokes with as much curly parsley as you can fit.  I also add 3 cloves of garlic to each artichoke (but I LOVE garlic – you don’t have to put that much).  Then put the artichokes into a pot.  You want them to have as little wiggle room as possible, but you need to be able to put a lid on top of them.

Drizzle olive oil over the top.

Fill the pot with about 2 inches of water.

Set the pot on the stove.  You want the artichokes to simmer.

I check them every half hour to make sure they haven’t run out of water.  It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for them to cook depending on the freshness of the artichoke and the strength of your simmer. 

Once they’re cooked – enjoy!!

Indigo and Jade are loving them (although I have no idea why Jade is holding a spoon because you eat them with your fingers).  You can see the remains of the leaves that Indigo has eaten as she works her way toward the heart.

Now that you know how to cook them, I’m going to work on putting together a post on how to actually eat an artichoke, so stay tuned for that!

What about you? Have you ever eaten a whole artichoke?  with the leaves? Do you have any desire to try it? Or are you a picky eater?