Artichokes

The globe artichoke is a member of the thistle family. When young, it may be eaten whole, even raw in salads; a more mature bud may be stuffed, quartered, boiled or fried; and the large artichokes may be boiled and eaten one leaf at a time (suck or scrape the flesh off the fibrous base with your teeth), dipped into vinaigrette or hollandaise sauce. In all but the baby artichoke, you need to discard the prickly choke, above the fleshy (and delicious) base, known also as the heart. Choose heavy artichokes with firm heads and stems, and leaves that are tightly overlapping.