cardoon

[Hattie the Hen]

HiDelight
BEWARE YOUR CARDOONAMANIA....!!
Remember she says the leaves can be TOXIC, so be sure to only use the stems (minus the strings).

I suspect the leaves, being bitter, act as a powerful emetic (sp?). If the Italians say it CAN be toxic, considering their love of bitter greens I think we should pay close attention.

Certainly when I have eaten it in Italy there was not a sign of any leaf. It just looked like large celery.

I know your sense of culinary adventure is tempting you BUT.......!!

Have a great weekend!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Reinbeau]

Mom and I went to our gathering this weekend and visited the herb garden at Cornell in Ithaca. They had several cardoon plants in the ornamental garden, here's a photo of one:

I will post more photos in Everything Else Gardens later on today.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Reinbeau!

Isn't it a lovely looking plant -- a great photograph Ann. I look forward to hearing about the meeting & to see more photos!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

Rein I missed your picture that was beautiful! such an amazing plant this is! that is why I don't understand more folks growing it!

ok here is my lastest cardoonaventure

I had a gathering last weekend and I have a pickle crock for a vase to put on the garden table that holds the cardoon flowers perfectly with out tipping over ...

this year my husband built me a magnficant dining table right smack in the middle of my garden on a tier..made out of a used bed frame set in on wooden footings ..and some kind of webbed metal fabric ..all junk and it is beautiful!!! ...it overlooks what will be my last garden landscape project the bocci ball area ...but I digress away from cardooning here

so I cut some of the flowers to put in the vase with out gloves on ..then washed my hands and did tossed some pasta with my fingers ..I picked a piece out to taste

holy crap you guys!!!!! even though I had washed my hands with soap and water in the most santitary ( I still sing Happy Birthday to myself in my brain when I do ..from way back in nursing school LOL) fashion the bitter from the flower stem stayed on my fingers and when I put the piece of pasta in my mouth

well this is not very seemly but it came flying back out!!!!!

I love bitter as a flavor in foods but this was the most bitter acrid taste that ever entered my mouth!

I am understanding now why this is not a popular culinary item ..I guess if you do not get it just right ..blanching cooking ect ..well

dare I say YUK?

I am sooo glad I did not just take a bite of a piece like I usually do when I find a new vegetable!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi D! Silly Girl

Now you see why I always wear gloves in the garden.........!! I am so allergic to so many things plus my old skin tears so easily!

Yet my chickens eat the leaves(unblanched & uncooked) but not the stems or the choke -- it's a strange, strange world!

I now have 3 little pup cardoons from where the oldest part of the plants broke off in the gale I think I will wrestle some more older parts off as the plant looks a mess. I have never trimmed or cut it back before but I reckon that after 5or 6 years it knows what is best for it.

By the way my artichokes that I grew from seed are doing well in their pots. I have decided to plant some of them in the front garden as well as just outside my back garden (I have an area outside the gate by the woodpile & compost bins). I have to keep them away from the cardoons or they will cross-pollinate. There is a substantial barn in-between.



:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

I know I did learn my lesson on that one ..wow that turned my mouth inside out!

I have one miniaturized cardoon that would have been perfect in a pot ..I wonder if I put them in a pot if they will stay small ..it looks really good with one big flower on it but the whole thing is maybe a foot high!

 

[obsessed]

So I have been following this closely as something I would like to try. But I am so not understanding. You don't like it - HIDelight? It tastes too bitter? Or was it just a mishap in the cooking?

 

[HiDelight]

I have not eaten any yet I am going to follow the directions to blanching it ..but when I cut the flowers off for my party I did not have gloves on and the bitterness of the stem gave me a dire forwarning of what this thing could taste like if I did not follow the procedure explained and tried just cooking it haphazardly!

just the stem on my fingers after washing well was so bitter it made my mouth turn inside out!

I write like I talk ..in circles sometimes I am sorry!
did I make better sense this time I hope?

I am for sure going to blanch it correctly ..I have pulled up the sides of one plant already and am waiting for another one until November when it is cold to see how it goes they I will prepare it according to the instructions for one of the recipes posted or maybe just boil it dump the water and then saute it to see what the natural taste is

it should taste like artichokes is what Hattie said! I trust her!

 

[HiDelight]

fellow cardoonakins! let's get ourselves back to the subject of cardooniculture ..so for me and my world ...I wandered out into the yard in all my infirmed drug induced state and realized my cardoon had crawled out of bondage!

I figured it was a bit too early to start binding them up but one could hope ..so as soon as I have the energy I am going to go and bind it up again because I am determined to taste this plant!

anyone else have any cardoononews to add right now?

I have had fun letting my chipmunk rip up the heads and find the seeds ..he takes such a thrill in seeding things ..he makes piles according to types..especially colors are important to him .. and if they get mixed up he sorts them back very quickly ..he literally will spend an hour at the table picking and sorting seeds (tomorrow is chipmunk day!)

this three year old makes my disarray far more apparent when he sorts my piles as well "gwamma these colows go togethah not these colows" (he can not say R's I just pretend he is from my homeland of Rhode Island we did not say them either why bahthah??? LOL! )

 

[simple life]

Now I need to have one of these plants! I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I don't even think I have seen these at any of the local garden centers around here.
I will have to go on the search and get one started next year.

Hi delight are you hurt? I hope you are feeling better from what ever is ailing you.