Preparing an Artichoke
- Begin by removing the outer, tougher leaves.
- Work your way around the choke.
- The leaves will come away without too much effort.
- Keep removing the outer leaves until you get the more tender inner choke. For recipes calling for the stem to kept in tact, you can peel the stem at this point.
- Trim the stem at the base of the choke or leave a little stem attached. That will depend on you.
- Keep the stem aside for further cleaning while you start trimming the artichoke.
- Remove the tougher skin at the base. This is usually a deep green.
- Work your way all around the base. Kind of like peeling an apple.
- Using a serrated knife, cut off approximately 2/3 from the top of the leaves and discard.
- Now you will have something that may look familiar.
- Cut this in half.
- or into quarters
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- You will need to remove the inner hair. This is inedible and don’t try eating as it will be a very unpleasant experience as they remain lodged in your throat.
- When removing the inner hair from a half choke, use the point of a sharp paring knife or scoop it out with a teaspoon.
- Now you have a clean artichoke. You can use the half, the quarter or cut into slithers from here.
See here to Trim the stem.
Remember to put the cut artichokes into a bowl of lemon water straight away so they don’t darken.
