I came across some Cardoons for sales agreement at our local food market Wegmans last week , and it prompt me about a post which I never wrote last year . Cardoons are are a veggie which more in all probability is grown by some of you as an ornamental plant – a dramatic thistle - similar vase shaped plant with grayish prickly leave , a magnificent vase figure and by late summer , a Brobdingnagian , architectural statement plant for big garden . But this congenator of the Artichoke ( Cynara cardunculus ) occasionally testify up at the market at a wintertime veg , and one , which I feel deserve more attention . I thought that I might partake both how I grow it , and how one can make it .
The Cardoon has a farsighted history in American horticulture , as it was common colonial veg and one grown at Monticello in long row . Today , few bother to grow the plant for intellectual nourishment , opting for imported artichokes or those flown in from California , but the cardoon offers a more sustainable option to air - shipped artichoke plant , specially for those who garden in the north , and as an ornamental and a vegetable , it can be planted in the border rather than the vegetable garden .
Cardoon seeds must be sown early , in late January or other February , much like artichokes . seedling will not need to be vernalized , or cool for two or three weeks as artichoke seedling postulate , they can simply be set out into the garden and allowed to grow all summer long . They cab behave like biennials in some clime ( I had a couple survive for two years in the garden ) but generally , it is grown as an annual , with harvest planned for late October when one cut the entire plant at land point .
put up lot of space , for a well rise cardoon can gain 5 feet magniloquent , and nearly as wide . I included mine in a repeated bed and then planted some in a small provoke bottom , so they did not turn as large as they could have , but I was still able to glean a decent amount of Cynara cardunculus stalks for Christmas Eve dinner party ( it ’s a traditional Italian dish at the Holiday ’s ) and store some in the stem cellar for later in the winter , when I use it in traditional Gallic gratineés . strip down , poached and slice , the supply ship stems are best in lite gratin knockout with béchamel with a moment of nutmeg and alpine cheese , or serve with buttered pasta . And what could ever be wrong with that !
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