A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Cardoons

Has anyone ever grown and eaten cardoons?

Well, I grow them here, but only because their thistle flowers attract bees and butterflies. I havent tried to cook them (and dont think I would fancy dong so!!), but I have heard that in olden times in England they were grown in vegetable gardens, and blanched in the same way as you would celery. Also, the thistle heads are like globe artichokes so I guess you could cook them like that.

... but having said that, I see that the Italians do cook them a lot - see these recipes:

http://italianfood.about.com/blind44.htm

Thanks for the info-do you grow from seed or starter plants?

Well, to be honest, Deborah, I've never really had the patience to grow much flowers from seed (but vegetables - yes, all the time). So, typically, I got my cardoons as potplants, a few years back, already fair-sized and able to go right into the back of one of my sunnier flower beds. They always give off loads of seeds every year, but these catch in the wind and never seem to take.

I have read some of these recipes and they do intrigue me. I might try and cook up a couple of flower heads to see what they taste like, but I believe you have to cut them before they open if you want to do that.

I'd be really interested to hear if you try and grow some and then cook them up (stem or flower-head) and whether your verdict is 'yummy' or 'crummy'!Give it a go!

Thanks, Star.
My next question-are you sure the flower is edible?
I've always been told that only the stems are.
I've seen cardoons growing wild along the freeways here, but I've never seen the seeds or plants available for sale.

I'm pretty certain it's edible, but as for tasty I dont know - but given the choice between a plate of boiled cardoon heads and a cheeseburger I know which one I'd prefer!! I have learned that in some parts of the World, eg., Argentina and Australia, they have become pretty invasive weeds.

Here are some examples I've found of how to cook them:

While the flower buds can be eaten much as the artichoke, more often the stems are eaten after being blanched by being wrapped or buried in earth. Battered and fried, the stems are also traditionally served at St. Joseph's altars in New Orleans.
The flower buds are a bit smaller than the globe artichoke and so are even more fiddly to use. The buds are harvested just before the flowers open, they are then usually boiled before being eaten. Only the base of each bract is eaten, plus the 'heart' or base that the petals grow from. The flavour is mild and pleasant and is felt by some people to be more delicate than the globe artichoke]. Stems - cooked and used as a celery substitute. It is best to earth up the stems as they grow in order to blanch them and reduce their bitterness[4], these blanched stems can then be eaten cooked or in salads. In Italy raw strips of the stems are dipped into olive oil. We find these stems to be too bitter when eaten raw. Young leaves - raw or cooked. Eaten as a salad by the ancient Romans. Rather bitter. Root - cooked like parsnips. Tender, thick and fleshy, with an agreeable flavour. The dried flowers are a rennet substitute, used for curdling plant milks.

Great post-thanks for researching this so well !
I never dreamed that there were so many uses for this plant.

Deborah - it is an interesting, off-beat subject and I hope that if you do decide to cook something up you let the rest of us know how it went down!

And hopefully not up !