From Jeff Cox

GLOBE ARTICHOKE (Cynara scolymus)

Artichokes, now in season, are most likely a selected form of cardoon, which in turn is a large thistle found wild in Italy and North Africa and has been eaten since the first person hungry enough to try one found out they tasted pretty good. The name comes from the Arabic “al-kharshuf,” thence to Spain where they became “Al Kharshofa,” and eventually to England where in 1531 it was written that a vendor “was bringing archecokks to the King.”

They arrived in America with the Italian immigrants who settled Monterey County’s coast in the late 1800s and found that they (and brussels sprouts) were eminently suited to the climate. Their popularity got a boost when Marilyn Monroe was crowned Artichoke Queen in Castroville in 1948. Today, almost all the artichokes sold coast to coast come from the Castroville area–the so-called “Artichoke Capital of the World”–and are either ‘Green Globe’, ‘Green Globe Improved’, ‘Emerald’, or ‘Imperial Star’ varieties. That’s too bad, because artichokes have a wonderful range of flavors given by many fine varieties known mostly to Europeans—although that is changing.

Most of the prized European varieties have a purplish cast, or at least combine burgundy and green colors on their globes. Surely some small growers in the United States are selling them at farmers’ markets in areas where they can be grown, and that, surprisingly, includes much of the country. David Hill of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven has found a way to grow artichokes as an annual and get two crops a year from the plants. A variety called ‘Gros Vert de Laon’ was grown in the market gardens outside of Paris from the 1500s almost to the present. The French court of that early era especially desired artichokes because they were considered aphrodisiac. But then, I suspect the French court thought almost anything could be aphrodisiac. Nowadays artichokes for northern European markets come up from the Mediterranean climates of southern Europe.

In California, artichoke culture is moving to the hot, dry interior. Cher and Tom Fayter of south Sacramento County have bred a variety called ‘Kiss of Burgundy’ that’s coming into large-scale commercial production. “You see it at farmers markets in Sacramento and San Francisco,” Cher told me. I asked her whether ‘Kiss of Burgundy’ was bred from some of the purple European varieties. “No—it came from a bunch of junk seed from Castroville. Artichokes aren’t open-pollinated; they don’t come true from seed, you know. If you plant a seed, you get a variety different from the parent. So we grew out this batch of seed and started making crosses, looking for a hybrid variety that could withstand our summer heat out here in the Central Valley, then we bred for a variety that could take the colder winters we have here, then for a large amount of meat, and then for flavor.” What about the color? “God just threw that in,” she said. “You know they are really good. Some guys doing a cable show on farm produce were eating them raw.”

In Italy and parts of France, artichoke hearts are eaten raw in salads. They’re sliced ultra-fine and tossed with vinaigrette and shavings of good Reggiano-Parmigiano cheese.

Along with artichoke culture moving beyond Castroville comes the possibility that they’ll be raised organically in hotter, drier climates than Monterey’s. The climate of the Monterey coast is one of cool, sunny days and cool, foggy nights—perfect conditions for aphids, and for botrytis rot and fungus. And so commercial artichokes are usually sprayed with both pesticides and fungicides. That’s why they are blemish-free and you’ll never see an earwig crawl out from the bracts. But earwigs love to set up housekeeping in artichoke heads. So when you get your organic chokes home, tap them upside down in the sink to dislodge any hitchhikers. Or, soak them in a pan of water treated with two tablespoons of salt and two of vinegar to chase away any earwigs or aphids. Also, some of the popular European purplish-green varieties might be better suited to inland climates than ‘Green Globe’.

Most people cook them with the bracts still on. The Sicilians, though, cut away the spiny tips of the bracts, then fill the spaces between them with a mixture of olive oil, garlic, parsley, cheese, bread crumbs, and a bit of water (I might add a mashed anchovy filet to this mix), then bake the chokes in a slow to moderate oven until the stem end easily accepts a toothpick.

If I’m not going to use the heart immediately after freeing it from its bracts and thistly “choke,” I rub it with olive oil or dab it all over with lemon juice, because the hearts oxidize and turn an unappealing brownish-blackish color quickly. These beauties can be baked, braised, marinated, roasted, steamed, grilled, or broiled, but please, don’t boil the life and flavor and nutrients out of them. I like to marinate them in oil, vinegar, and herbs, then grill them. Or steam them until they’re soft, then use them with lemon, anchovies, garlic, and olive oil—their Mediterranean staple friends–as foundation partners. You can dice the chokes and mix them with breadcrumbs and the foundation ingredients to stuff a fish or a chicken breast. In Greece they make whole artichoke hearts au gratin with kefalotiri cheese. Polish cooks will braise artichoke hearts in white wine and garlic. I’ve had artichoke hearts cooked with onions, potatoes, lamb, and Moroccan spices in a tagine, and the combination was wonderful. This dish proved to me once again that foods indigenous to a region often make excellent culinary bedfellows. But be aware that artichokes are difficult with a glass of wine at dinner—there’s an anti-synergy happening between those two foods. Wine tends to intensify the astringent quality of the chokes.

Nutritionally, artichokes are low in calories, fat free, and contain a good amount of vitamin C, folate, and potassium—but their real health benefits are in the phenolic compounds they contain. Polyphenols, as these compounds are more accurately known, also found in high amounts in cranberry juice and red wine grapes, have a strong antioxidant effect and a high free radical scavenging ability. And there’s evidence that polyphenols inhibit the body’s production of an enzyme that allows arterial plaque to form.

Organic Moroccan-Style Artichoke Stew

Make a pot of couscous and spoon this delicious stew over it. The artichokes sound a woodwind’s note in this symphony of sweet and savory flavors.

4 organic globe artichokes, hearts and stems only
1 lb. lamb leg or sirloin meat, cubed
12 organic scallions
1 red sweet pepper
2 large, peeled potatoes
1 jalapeno pepper
3 garlic cloves, diced
½ cup olive oil
3 Tbl. black and golden raisins
¼ cup slivered almonds
1 tsp. cumin
1 anchovy filet
2 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
1 cup organic chicken broth
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground coriander

1. Prep work includes the following: pare the artichokes down to the heart and a bit of stem and plunge into acidulated water. Cut lamb into cubic-inch chunks and dredge in flour with salt and pepper added. Pare roots and tops from scallions, then coarsely chop two inches of white stems into half-inch chunks. Core and seed the pepper and cut into ¼-inch strips. Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters or eighths, depending on size. Dice the jalapeno pepper. Peel and dice the garlic cloves. Mash the anchovy filet into the lemon juice.

2. Pour ¼ cup olive oil into skillet and brown the lamb just until surfaces are browned, then remove from heat.

3. In a bowl, mix artichoke hearts, lamb, scallions, sweet pepper, potatoes, diced jalapeno, garlic, raisins, almonds, cumin, oregano, and coriander. Spoon into a 9×12 baking dish. Pour chicken broth over. Drizzle the remaining ¼ cup olive oil over the baking dish. 4. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 375 F. for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the top of the stew with the anchovy and lemon juice mixture. Reduce heat to 325 F. Let the stew finish uncovered for 15 more minutes.

5. Prepare the couscous (takes about 10 minutes). Serve couscous in a bowl and stew in a tagine, if you have one. Spoon stew over each plate of couscous. Serves 4.
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See aso Jeff’s Local, Seasonal and Organic
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Jeff Cox is author of The Organic Cook’s Bible and The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide, and numerous other cooking, gardening, and wine books, and lives in Sonoma County, California.
Image Credit: © Karoline Cullen | Dreamstime.com
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