# Is this artichoke okay?



## JillBurgh (Apr 20, 2008)

The last artichoke I bought was brown and soft inside so I pitched it. This one is reddish. Is it good to use?


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## Andy M. (Apr 20, 2008)

IT looks OK to me.


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## JillBurgh (Apr 20, 2008)

Andy M. said:


> IT looks OK to me.



Andy, Is it red because it's not ripe enough?


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## Andy M. (Apr 20, 2008)

I don;t think so.  That's not an unusual color for a mature artichoke.


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## kitchenelf (Apr 20, 2008)

Those reddish/purplish leaves are quite normal.  When you finally get down to them though you have to be careful because of the thorns.  Grab quite a few at a time as only a teeny bit at the tip is edible.  Inside that is the choke.


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## larry_stewart (Apr 20, 2008)

Looks fine. 

As mentioned above, as u get closer to the center, the leaves become less tough, but have thorns at the ends.  They also become lighter in color with a purplish tip.  Underneath these leaves is ' fuzzy stuff' that should be removed before eating the choke, or the meaty, bottom part of the artichoke.  Usually when u have a bad artichoke, the leaves will be brownish black, or sometimes u might have an unexpected visitor ( a worm ) inside the leaves.


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## JillBurgh (Apr 20, 2008)

Thanks everyone. I finally made it to the choke, and I removed most of the puplish leaves along with it. It sounds like it is okay to use to use as long as I leave off the thorns, but they seemed to "want" to come out with the choke. I keep trying to make artichokes work at home, but I'm not sure I have the patience. plus, at $2.50 a pop, we need $10 worth of artichokes to make enough for 2 of us! Maybe someone can convince me to stick with it. I must be making it too difficult.


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## larry_stewart (Apr 20, 2008)

$2.50 a pop ?? are the oil companies selling them there ?  Here in new york they were 3 for $1 this morning.  At $2.50, im not sure id make the effort either. Too much of a pain in the butt make and eat at that price.  Stuffing them is even more of a pain in the butt, but taste great


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## auntdot (Apr 20, 2008)

_Are they worth it?  Only you can answer that one._

_To me they are, but I am the only one around here who eats them._

_I particularly like the baby ones, but can rarely find them._

_Admit they are a bit dear but only eat them every so often.  An artichoke or two and a bottle of two buck Chuck, which is $3.29 at my TJ's, makes a meal, at least for me._

_It may not be fine dining but what the heck it gets the job done._


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## fireweaver (Apr 20, 2008)

yeah, jill, here in DC/baltimore they're still around $2ish each.  later in the summer or so they'll get down to larry's couple-for-a-buck (geez larry, 33 cents each?  in NY???  start mailing 'em out!).  2 is just plenty for me, so yeah, until they get a bit less pricey, i leave them alone too.  

the purple thing is, like everyone said, totally normal.  artichokes are flowers after all, and some of them just get around to actually looking pretty on the inside before you eat them.  gorgeous pic, btw.


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## QSis (Apr 20, 2008)

I usually serve one large artichoke, or two small ones, per person, with individual dishes of melted garlic-lemon-butter.  With a mess of baked chicken wings.  And each person has his/her own leaf/bone bowl, too.

One of my all-time favorite meals.

Lee


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## JillBurgh (Apr 20, 2008)

QSis said:


> I usually serve one large artichoke, or two small ones, per person, with individual dishes of melted garlic-lemon-butter.  With a mess of baked chicken wings.  And each person has his/her own leaf/bone bowl, too.
> 
> One of my all-time favorite meals.
> 
> Lee



That sounds dee-lish! I used a roasted garlic/shallot white wine braising liquid. And I added a little of the lemon water I was holding the veggies in, too. So I guess you could say it's garlic-lemon-butter-like!

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and input. And thanks for the compliment about the photo, fireweaver.


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## quicksilver (Apr 20, 2008)

*Love 'em, need 'em, gotta have 'em.  *
*What? Are you teasing me?*
*My favorite!!! Them and asparagus.*
*Here they're about $2.00 but stink most of the year. You have to look 1st. If they look dried out - forget it. If they're heavy for their size, they're in my basket. *
*I'm with aunt dot. I steam them in asidulated water (lemon's been added, as well as cutting off the thorns and squeezing lemon on) There's my meal for the night. They're so rich I haven't found what would be good with them. Maybe a light white fish. Anyone have a good idea????*
*I serve with a mini warmer of salted butter & lemon.*
*Your picture looks beautiful, I'm drewling.*
Eat and be merry!


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## VeraBlue (Apr 21, 2008)

That's a prefectly perfect artichoke.


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## VeraBlue (Apr 21, 2008)

JillBurgh said:


> Thanks everyone. I finally made it to the choke, and I removed most of the puplish leaves along with it. It sounds like it is okay to use to use as long as I leave off the thorns, but they seemed to "want" to come out with the choke. I keep trying to make artichokes work at home, but I'm not sure I have the patience. plus, at $2.50 a pop, we need $10 worth of artichokes to make enough for 2 of us! Maybe someone can convince me to stick with it. I must be making it too difficult.


Stuff them...then you only need one per person.


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## JillBurgh (Apr 22, 2008)

VeraBlue said:


> Stuff them...then you only need one per person.


 
Great advice! I'll do that next time (Although I'd probably stuff with crabmeat which will make them even more expensive!)


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## jennyema (Apr 22, 2008)

larry_stewart said:


> $2.50 a pop ?? are the oil companies selling them there ? Here in new york they were 3 for $1 this morning. At $2.50, im not sure id make the effort either. Too much of a pain in the butt make and eat at that price. Stuffing them is even more of a pain in the butt, but taste great


 

3 for $1?  That's VERY cheap.  Insanely cheap.  Super insanely cheap for NYC.


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## plumies (Apr 22, 2008)

That is cheap.  I just picked some up on Sunday at Albertson's, $1 each, cheapest I've seen in a while.  Nice size and heavy too.  I splurged a little!


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