Artichokes
Artichokes are not the highest yielding of plants. In fact they are pretty terrible in terms of food for land ratios, but they are one of the tastiest things you can eat and are considered quite a delicacy. They also seem to have a special zing when picked and eaten fresh as opposed to shop bought artichokes which have been sitting on the shelf for a week.
Artichokes can be purchased in punnets or as seed and are fairly simple to get started. Make sure you plant your artichoke in a good sunny position and give it plenty of water. Artichokes will continue to grow the following year from previous root systems, so make sure you plant in a position which can be permanently taken up by your artichoke plants.
Each plant will need about 80 cm diameter clearance, so make sure you plant seedlings a good distance appart. You should get several artichokes off each plant, so once the first artickoke has been harvested, make sure you give the plant the chance to produce more.
The artichoke should be picked before it starts to flower. Generally the petals should start to come away from the bulb indicating that it is time to harvest.
Artichokes can be boiled for about 10minutes in water which covers the bottom half of the artichoke bulb. Various sauces can be made including one out of egg, lemon, vinegar and mayonaise. A simple search can find you numerous sauces which go well with artichokes.
