Produce Briefs...
Radicchio
Cooking radicchio brings out the vegetable's natural sweetness but it can also be served fresh. Grill radicchio halves and combine with cooked white beans and balsamic vinaigrette.
Fresh Green Garlic
Grown in California, regarded as a spring delicacy, fresh green garlic are very young garlic before they begin to form bulbils or cloves.
Seasons/Availability
Cardoni is a winter vegetable with a peak season during December.
Current Facts
Cardoni AKA cardoons and known in Italy as "cardi", are grown blanched. This is the process of tying the plant together and blocking out sunlight with paper or straw to shade the stalks. The lack of light source creates a more tender and sweeter plant. The best cardoni grow in absolute darkness.
Description/Taste
Cardoni is a thistle-like plant which is member of the Aster family; it is often referred to as an artichoke, though it is actually distant cousin. Once harvested, the stalks should not be crisp like celery. They actually should feel heavy and moist. Resembling celery in shape, its pale, grey-green stalk has a suede-like texture. Once picked and trimmed, the few remaining leaves should also be pale, grey-green and soft. The leaves, however are not recommended for eating. When cooked , the stalks are meaty with a bittersweet flavor.
Applications
Cardones should not be eaten raw, but soaked or boiled before preparing to remove their bitter quality. Blanche chopped stalks, then mix with bechemel and grated cheese and bake into a gratin. Combine cooked cardones with chopped, preserved lemon and sauteed onions for a side dish. Cut into sections, blanche, then dry, bread and deep fry cardones for an appetizer. Cardoni should be kept dry and refrigerated until ready to use.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
It has been documented several times throughout agricultural journals, books, etc. that cardoni do not produce enough edible plant for the space that they take up within a garden, noting that the crop can never pay enough for the ground it claims.
Geography/History
Cardoon is believed to have been cultivated for thousands of years in the central and western Mediterranean regions of Europe. It is known as a highly evasive plant that can take over a garden and if left to seed, spread for miles around. It is so successful at escaping cultivation that isis legally listed as a "noxious weed".
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Cardoni Italian Artichoke. One
is easiest, three is harder.
Cardoni is a winter vegetable with a peak season during December.
Current Facts
Cardoni AKA cardoons and known in Italy as "cardi", are grown blanched. This is the process of tying the plant together and blocking out sunlight with paper or straw to shade the stalks. The lack of light source creates a more tender and sweeter plant. The best cardoni grow in absolute darkness.
Description/Taste
Cardoni is a thistle-like plant which is member of the Aster family; it is often referred to as an artichoke, though it is actually distant cousin. Once harvested, the stalks should not be crisp like celery. They actually should feel heavy and moist. Resembling celery in shape, its pale, grey-green stalk has a suede-like texture. Once picked and trimmed, the few remaining leaves should also be pale, grey-green and soft. The leaves, however are not recommended for eating. When cooked , the stalks are meaty with a bittersweet flavor.
Applications
Cardones should not be eaten raw, but soaked or boiled before preparing to remove their bitter quality. Blanche chopped stalks, then mix with bechemel and grated cheese and bake into a gratin. Combine cooked cardones with chopped, preserved lemon and sauteed onions for a side dish. Cut into sections, blanche, then dry, bread and deep fry cardones for an appetizer. Cardoni should be kept dry and refrigerated until ready to use.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
It has been documented several times throughout agricultural journals, books, etc. that cardoni do not produce enough edible plant for the space that they take up within a garden, noting that the crop can never pay enough for the ground it claims.
Geography/History
Cardoon is believed to have been cultivated for thousands of years in the central and western Mediterranean regions of Europe. It is known as a highly evasive plant that can take over a garden and if left to seed, spread for miles around. It is so successful at escaping cultivation that isis legally listed as a "noxious weed".
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Cardoni Italian Artichoke. One
is easiest, three is harder.
