The artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food.
The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist.
Description
This vegetable grows to tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery, glaucous-green leaves long. The flowers develop in a large head from an edible bud about diameter with numerous triangular scales; the individual florets are purple. The edible portions of the buds consist primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts and the base, known as the heart; the mass of immature florets in the center of the bud is called the choke or beard (which is inedible in older, larger flowers), and the bottom of the heart from which all leaves and choke have been removed.
Name The English word artichoke was borrowed in the sixteenth century from the northern Italian word (the standard modern Italian being ). The Italian term was itself borrowed either from Spanish (today usually ) or directly from the source of the Spanish word—medieval Andalusi Arabic (, including the Arabic definite article ). The Arabic form is still used in Maghrebi Arabic today, while other variants in Arabic include , and Modern Standard Arabic . These Arabic forms derive from classical Arabic () singular word of the plural () meaning "scale"."Artichoke, n.", Oxford English Dictionary Online, 3rd ed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), accessed 16 April 2020."Artichoke" at American Heritage Dictionary Other languages which derive their word for the artichoke from Arabic include Israeli Hebrew, which has the word (). The original Hebrew name (see ) is , which is found in the Mishna.Mishnah, tractate Kalaim, Chapter E, Mishnah 8 During the sixteenth century the artichoke began to appear in French as carchofas, from the Italian carciofo.
Despite being borrowed from Arabic, European terms for the artichoke have in turn influenced Arabic in their own right. For example, the modern Levantine Arabic term for artichoke is (). This literally means 'earthy thorny', and is an Arabicisation (through phono-semantic matching) of the English word artichoke or other European terms like it.Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. /
As in the case of Levantine Arabic , names for the artichoke have frequently changed form due to folk etymology and phono-semantic matching. The Italian form seems to have been adapted to correspond to Italian ('arch-, chief') and ('stump'). Forms of the French word (which also derives from Arabic, possibly via Spanish) have over the years included (corresponding to , 'warm') and (corresponding to , 'height'). Forms found in English have included hartichoak, corresponding to heart and choke, which were likely associated with the belief that the inedible centre of the vegetable could choke its eaters or that the plant can take over a garden, choking out other plants.
Ecology Artichokes are affected by fungal pathogens including Verticillium dahliae and Rhizoctonia solani.
Soil solarization has been successful in other crop-fungus pathosystems and is evaluated for suppression of V. dahliae and R. solani by Guerrero et al. 2019.
Cultivation Early history The artichoke is a domesticated variety of the wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus),Gabreilla Sonnante, Domenico Pignone and Karl Hammer, 'The Domestication of Artichoke and Cardoon: From Roman Times to the Genomic Age', Annals of Botany, 100 (2007), 1095–1100; . which is native to the Mediterranean area. There was debate over whether the artichoke was a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans, or whether that cultivar was developed later, with Classical sources referring instead to the wild cardoon.Clifford A. Wright, 'Did the Ancients Know the Artichoke?', Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, 9.4 (2009), 21–28 .Susan Weingarten, 'The Rabbi and the Emperors: Artichokes and Cucumbers as Symbols of Status in Talmudic Literature', in When West Met East: The Encounter of Greece and Rome with the Jews, Egyptians, and Others. Studies Presented to Ranon Katzoff in Honor of his 75th Birthday, ed. by David M. Schaps, Uri Yiftach and Daniela Dueck, Graeca Tergestina. Storia e civiltà, 3 (Trieste: EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2016), pp. 51–65. The cardoon is mentioned as a garden plant in the eighth century BC by Homer and Hesiod. Pliny the Elder mentioned growing of 'carduus' in Carthage and Cordoba. In North Africa, where it is still found in the wild state, the seeds of artichokes, probably cultivated, were found during the excavation of Roman-period Mons Claudianus in Egypt.Vartavan, C. (de) and Asensi Amoros, V. 1997 Codex of Ancient Egyptian Plant Remains. London, Triade Exploration. Page 91
Varieties of artichokes were cultivated in Sicily beginning in the classical period of the ancient Greeks; the Greeks calling them kaktos. In that period, the Greeks ate the leaves and flower heads, which cultivation had already improved from the wild form. The Romans called the vegetable carduus (hence the name cardoon). Further improvement in the cultivated form appears to have taken place in the medieval period in Muslim Spain and the Maghreb, although the evidence is inferential only.Watson, Andrew. Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world. Cambridge University Press. p. 64 By the twelfth century, it was being mentioned in the compendious guide to farming composed by Ibn al-'Awwam in Seville (although it does not appear in earlier major Andalusian Arabic works on agriculture), and in Germany by Hildegard von Bingen.John H. Harvey, 'Garden Plants of Moorish Spain: A Fresh Look', Garden History, 20.1 (Spring, 1992), 71–82 (pp. 75 and 78).
Le Roy Ladurie, in his book Les paysans de Languedoc, has documented the spread of artichoke cultivation in Italy and southern France in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when the artichoke appeared as a new arrival with a new name, carchofas, which may be taken to indicate an arrival of an improved cultivated variety:
The Dutch introduced artichokes to England, where they grew in the garden of Henry VIII at Newhall in 1530. From the mid-seventeenth century artichokes 'enjoyed a vogue' in European courts. The hearts were considered luxury ingredients in the new court cookery as recorded by writers such as François Pierre La Varenne, the author of Le Cuisinier François (1651). It was also claimed, in this period, that artichokes had aphrodisiac properties. They were taken to the United States in the nineteenth century—to Louisiana by French immigrants and to California by Spanish immigrants.
Cultivation methods
Artichokes may be produced from seeds or from vegetative means such as division, root cuttings, or micropropagation. Although technically perennials that normally produce the edible flower only during the second and subsequent years, certain varieties of artichokes may be grown from seed as annuals, producing a limited harvest at the end of the first growing season, even in regions where the plants are not normally winter-hardy. This means home gardeners in northern regions can attempt to produce a crop without the need to overwinter plants with special treatment or protection. The seed cultivar 'Imperial Star' has been bred to produce in the first year without such measures. An even newer cultivar, 'Northern Star', is said to be able to overwinter in more northerly climates and readily survives subzero temperatures.Peters Seed and Research
Commercial culture is limited to warm areas of the mainland of the United States in USDA hardiness zone 7 and above. It requires good soil, regular watering and feeding, and frost protection in winter. Rooted suckers may be planted each year, so mature specimens may be disposed of after a few years, as each individual plant lives only a few years. The peak season for artichoke harvesting is the spring, but they can continue to be harvested throughout the summer, with another peak period in mid-autumn. When harvested, they are cut from the plant so as to leave an inch or two of stem (that also is edible and resembles the bottom). Artichokes possess good keeping qualities, frequently remaining quite fresh for two weeks or longer under average retail conditions.
Apart from culinary applications, the globe artichoke is used as a landscape plant for its bright floral display, sometimes grown in herbaceous borders for its bold foliage and large, purple flower heads.
Cultivars Green, big: 'Vert de Laon' (France), 'Camus de Bretagne', 'Castel' (France), 'Green Globe' (USA, South Africa) Green, medium-size: 'Verde Palermo' (Sicily, Italy), 'Blanca de Tudela' (Spain), 'Argentina', 'Española' (Chile), 'Blanc d'Oran' (Algeria), 'Sakiz', 'Bayrampasha' (Turkey) Purple, big: 'Romanesco', 'C3' (Lazio, Italy) Purple, medium-size: 'Violet de Provence' (France), 'Brindisino', 'Catanese', 'Niscemese' (Sicily, Italy), 'Violet d'Algerie' (Algeria), 'Baladi' (Egypt), 'Ñato' (Argentina), 'Violetta di Chioggia' (Veneto, Italy) Spined: 'Spinoso Sardo e Ingauno' (Sardinia, Italy), 'Criolla' (Peru) White: in some parts of the world.
Production In 2024, world production of artichokes was 1.7 million tonnes, led by Egypt with 601,272 tonnes and Italy with 373,960 tonnes.
Uses
Nutrition Cooked unsalted artichoke is 82% water, 12% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and 3% fat (table). In a 100-gram reference serving, cooked artichoke supplies of food energy, is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of folate, and is a moderate source (10–19% DV) of vitamin K, copper, and magnesium (10–14% DV) (table), manganese (18%), among others. Nutritional details also include many phytochemicals.10 Health Benefits of Artichokes Cleveland Clinic, Diet, Food, Fitness, Nutrition, February 23, 2024
Culinary Large globe artichokes are frequently prepared by removing all but or so of the stem. To remove thorns, which may interfere with eating, around a quarter of each scale may be cut off. To cook, the artichoke is simmered for 15 to 30 minutes, or steamed for 30–40 minutes (less for small ones). A cooked, unseasoned artichoke has a delicate flavor.
Salt may be added to the water if boiling artichokes. Covered artichokes, in particular those that have been cut, may turn brown due to the enzymatic browning and chlorophyll oxidation. Placing them in water slightly acidified with vinegar or lemon juice can prevent the discoloration.
Leaves are often removed one at a time, and the fleshy base eaten, often with vinaigrette, hollandaise, vinegar, butter, mayonnaise, aioli, lemon juice, or other sauces. The fibrous upper part of each leaf is usually discarded. The heart is eaten when the inedible choke has been peeled away from the base and discarded. Thin leaves covering the choke are also edible. The heart may be completely stripped of leaves and choke and eaten as a delicacy, stuffed with several types of ingredients, or chopped to include in dishes.
In Italy, artichoke hearts in oil are the usual vegetable for the "spring" section of the "four seasons" pizza (alongside tomatoes and basil for summer, mushrooms for autumn, and prosciutto and olives for winter).