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WHAT ARE ARTICHOKES?

There are two different plants called artichoke: the globe artichoke and the Jerusalem artichoke.

The Jerusalem artichoke is really a sunflower. Its name does not come from the word ''Jerusalem'' but is a corruption of the Italian word girasole, which means sunflower.

The globe artichoke is a green gray plant that looks very much like a thistle. It grows from two to three feet tall and has large, prickly leaves. It's the flower of the globe artichoke that we eat. Well, not the whole flower—just parts of it.

Have you ever eaten an artichoke? The edible parts are¬the thickened bases of the fleshy bracts. You pull one bract off the artichoke at a time, dip the thick part either into melted butter, a special sauce or mayonnaise, and then scrape off the thickened part by biting down on the bract and pulling it out of your mouth, leaving the soft pulp in your mouth. The thick receptable on which the bracts grow, called the heart, is also edible.

Before you eat the globe artichoke, it should be boiled in water.

Native to the Mediterranean area, the globe artichoke also grows in California. The plants usually live for three to four years.

A second type of artichoke is called the Jerusalem artichoke. It grows five to 12 feet tall. and has yellow flowers that bloom in the fall. Potato like roots on this plants are used as food.

The plant was introduced into Europe from North. America in 1616 and is indigenous to Mississippi and parts of Canada. It was one of the few plants that were actually cultivated by the American Indians, and it is now grown as a winter vegetable and as an excellent food item for livestock.

Jerusalem artichokes are easy to cultivate and do very well in any well drained land. They are planted the same way as potatoes but are much more prolific and more easily grown. Frost does not harm the tuber and the crop may be left in the ground all winter long and dug up in the spring.

Jerusalem artichoke tubers are high in food value and make a fine table vegetable. They are also valuable for the production of levulose sugars which diabetics can eat.  

When grown for sugar production, special varieties of the Jerusalem artichoke are used. The tubers are planted in the spring and dug up in the fall. When the crop is used for stock feed, the tubers are plowed under and the crop is allowed to grow wild. It is found in its wild state throughout the corn belt of the United States.   

 

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