Artichoke

Posted on November 17, 2013 in Ingredients

Nutritional info: 380 calories, 1 kg

Hints & Tips

When purchasing artichokes look for firm and compact with the leaves closed. Their weight should be heavy in relation to size. There are different sizes. The small artichokes, also called baby artichokes, are not used so much in Greece. The dark green leaves of an artichoke is an indication of freshness. The best season to buy artichokes in Greece is during Spring, from March to May.

Why eating artichokes?

Rich in antioxidants
Beneficial for the liver
Protects from cancer
Helps digestion
Cure for hangover

Artichoke recipes can be found here

Trimming Process

Cleaning an artichoke is not an easy task.

First you need to slice the stem of the artichokes and trim it. Each artichoke has many leaves and especially the outer ones are very hard to cook. They need to be removed. Therefore when cleaning an artichoke keep only the leaves that are more tender.
You also need to cut them in the middle to remove the top parts of the leaves. If you do so use a spoon to open the small leaves that are closed in the middle of the artichoke in order to find the bloom.
Then remove with a spoon the bloom.
As a last step you need to rub each artichoke with lemon and put all of them in bowl full of water. This step is essential otherwise the artichokes will start to take a brown color.

You can see a step by step demonstration of how the artichokes are cleaned.