Cardoons – for Colour and for Cuisine
Denise >
They’re good to eat, too! The stems are similar to unblanched celery, and are excellent in lamb casseroles. The flower heads are edible too – and in fact are quite a delicacy. The head is boiled gently for about 10-15mins or just until scales can be pulled away with the fingers: there is a pasty substance at the base of each scale which is scraped off with the teeth.
Cardoon flower head
Cardoon flower head
Cardoon flower head
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Do you grow them perennially or sow every year? I have one (very prickly, beautiful flowerheads) but have never got round to eating it. My husband doesn’t like celery however, so I’d have to pick my dish carefully.
J > So far, perennially. The growing season is too short to grow from seed every year.
So do you harvest the leaf stems at a particular time of growth? Are they better when younger, or can you pick them anytime before they die back in autumn?
D > The leaf stems can be cut off as and when they look big enough but are still clean and tender – similar to rhubarb. Cut away leafy material, eel away the strongest ribbing – like celery. If eating rew use youngest stems and peel away more, but if cooking in stews, casseroles, or in roasts etc, then you can use leaves even as late as now – early Autumn. The flower heads are picked just at the very first signs of the petals trying to break through.
Thanks for the detail. Mine has flowers so prickly they would be difficult to handle, but I may have a try on the leaf stalks next year ☺
Oh I might try and grow some as we have lots of lamb to pair with them. I have heard you can use cardoon instead of rennet in cheese-making as well which might be interesting.
D > A substitue for rennet? Now that’s got to be worth trying!
They’re pretty, in a prickly kind of way! And first cousin to artichokes, I guess. Yum . . .
D > Very little Yum for the effort! Well, that’s the flowers. The stems are definitely worth it. Oh, and the flower heads are very prickly!
I must say it all sounds like an awful amount of work..
All the best things in life require effort!
oh oh that sounds like a lesson I should have learned a long time ago….
They look like a combination of artichoke and the tall bristley thistle that we have here in Missouri. How interesting! They are so pretty that they look good enough to eat. 🙂
J > Artichokes flower heads are similar but better, though it’s the other uses that make cardoons worth growing.
Very artistic photos.
D > It’s good to take a few moments to let the eye and mind wander off-piste!
New to me! Thanks for letting me know about cardoons.
D> They’re related to Globe Artichokes.
There we go! Those I have heard of. 😉
They look like artichokes we have here and love eating!
J > Yes, they’re related.