Artichoke Hearts

The artichoke has been cultivated in the Mediterranean since antiquity — the ancient Greeks ate them boiled with wine and oil, the Romans ate them preserved in brine, and they have been a staple of Italian, Greek, and Cypriot cooking ever since. There is an argument that the artichoke is the most distinctively Mediterranean of all vegetables: it grows best…The artichoke has been cultivated in the Mediterranean since antiquity — the ancient Greeks ate them boiled with wine and oil, the Romans ate them preserved in brine, and they have been a staple of Italian, Greek, and Cypriot cooking ever since. There is an argument that the artichoke is the most distinctively Mediterranean of all vegetables: it grows best in exactly the warm, dry conditions of the coastal Mediterranean, and its flavour — faintly bitter, nutty, with a vegetal sweetness that coats the palate — is unlike anything from the colder cuisines of northern Europe.Preparing fresh artichokes is rewarding but time-consuming; our jarred artichoke hearts in olive oil deliver the same flavour and tender…Read more