BONN, GERMANY (dpa) – The large violet blossom of the artichoke is a beautiful flower – but few people ever get to see it.
The thistle-like vegetable is harvested and served up on dining tables before it has a chance to bloom.
Artichokes have long been a culinary delicacy, particularly in France, Spain and Italy, where they are also grown in abundance.
“The artichoke takes first place in the cuisine of southern Europe for three months of the year, claiming the position the potato enjoys in the north,” wrote Carl Friedrich von Rumohr in 1822 in a book on the art of cookery.
The gastronomic expert dedicated many pages to the artichoke and reported on a tradition among Roman and Neapolitan shoemakers to roast them over an open fire.
In those days, like today, people ate the thick edible scales and bottom parts of the immature flower heads, called a heart. Only young and fresh artichokes can be eaten as a whole with just the hard outer leaves removed.
France, Spain and Italy have the ideal climate for cultivating artichokes. The vegetable is too sensitive to frost for northern Europe, although farmers in the mild climate of the southern Palatinate in Germany are now also beginning to harvest them.
Farmer Michael Gross, of Minfeld, in the Palatinate, has been growing them for the last five years. “I thought it must be possible in our nearly Tuscan climate,” he said. He now harvests around 300,000 artichoke heads a year on 10 hectares of land.
But unlike his colleagues in southern European countries, Gross plants anew every year. The plants do not always survive over the winter, because as well as frost, they are also sensitive to wet weather conditions.
According to Greek myth, artichokes have an aphrodisiac effect. Jupiter, Roman god of light, is said to have been smitten by the beauty of Cynara. But infuriated at being snubbed by her, he transformed her into a thorny thistle. Since then she has been a culinary seduction – recommended by celebrated chefs for lust-inspiring menus.
Despite its association with southern European cuisine, the artichoke originates from the orient. It was known in Egypt as early as 500 B.C. It only arrived in Europe in the 13th century A.D. And Katharina Medici of Italy first introduced the plant into France. Spanish conquerors then took it to the American continent. Today there huge artichoke plantations in the U.S., especially in California.
“The artichoke is a healthy, easily digestible but not very nutritious vegetable,” said the Universal Encyclopaedia of culinary art in 1886. It was wrong. The hearts contain little fat, but 11 grams of roughage per 100 grams. They are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. They contain vitamin B1 vitamins C, E and pro- vitamin A.
When picking out artichokes at the market, consumers should look for firm heads with narrow, close-lying, leaves that are not discoloured. Karin Iden, author of a recent book of artichoke recipes, recommends plunging cleaned artichokes into lemon water to prevent them from going grey.
