Cardoon Cooking Info

Shortly it will be time to try our second sample harvest of cardoon. On the first attempt, the cardoon was too bitter to eat. Several readers have asked for more information about this veggie, but alas, I'm a complete novice. So I gleaned the Internet for some gems of knowledge. 

The part of the plant that is harvested is the central core of fairly soft, light grey-green stalks & leaves. This core is cut away from the plant and should feel heavy, be moist but not crisp (like celery). The cut end will discolor but will be discarded during preparation. Care should be taken not to bruise or damage the stalks. 

I discovered that new shoots will regrow from the cut stem that is left in the ground. About 5 shoots grew and I plan to thin them to 2 and see what happens. 

Once harvested, the stalks are bunched together, making the cardoon look somewhat like celery. The abundant leaves above the main stalk bunch can be cut off, since it is the stalks that will be eaten. Wrapped in a damp towel, it can be stored in the refrigerator and should last 5-7 days. 

To prepare it for cooking, cut off the bottom in order to free the stalks, remove any leaves and spines. Oh, I forgot to mention that the stalks have nasty spines along the outer edges. Yes, cardoon is in the thistle family. I'm growing a so called "thornless" variety, but it still has small thorns. I suppose the thorny varieties are truly thorny! The next step is to remove the strings of tough fiber from the outside of the stalks, kind of like the strings in celery but far more wicked. I notice that the stalks are not solid like celery, but semi-hollow inside. A vegetable peeler should work. Then cut the stalk into pieces (anywhere from 1" to 4" seems to be recommended) and immediately place in a bowl of water that has some lemon juice added. This is to prevent discoloration. Yet other cooks advise to soak the cardoon chunks in a bowl of water to which 2 tablespoons of white vinegar has been added. Soaking for 30 minutes is suppose to reduce bitterness. (I haven't tried this yet, so I don't know how well it works.) one other site I visited said to soak the chunks in salted water for an hour before cooking then rinse, and recommended 1 tablespoin of salt per 1/2 gallon of water. 

Now....the cooking: 

Some sites recommend parboiling in salted water prior to the actual cooking process. The water is drained off, then the cardoon chunks are cooled before cooking. After this step, there appears to be a variety of favorite ways of cooking cardoon. Some say to simmer in water, vegetable stock, or chicken broth until tender. One says to microwave in a bowl with a little water, until tender. Another suggests dredging the chunks in seasoned flour then dip into beaten egg before frying in olive oil. I gather from reading the many recipes, cardoon can be braised, sautéed, boiled in soups and stews, or battered & deep fried. The actual cooking time can vary, apparently due to the age of the stalks, and can be up to one hour before the stalks become tender. Ah-ha, perhaps that's one of the reasons behind the suggestion to parboil first. 

There seems to be a lot of prep work to do before cardoon hits the dinner plate. But just about every website said that it was worth it. Apparently the flavor is quite appealing, along the lines of artichokes. 

Cardoon Update

My first attempt with cardoon was a semi failure. I grew it successfully but the dang stuff wasn't edible. Too bitter.  Yuk. 

Ok, Hawaii isn't the ideal location for it. At least my place isn't.  I'm told that I'm too warm at night. Others have told me that cardoon should have decreasing light when harvested, that meaning, November/December. Yet others have said that it needs to be blanched. There's nothing I can do about the warm night temps, but I can change my planting time so that the crop matures in late fall/ early winter. And I can blanch it. 

Above is a photo of the first blanching experiment. One of the community gardeners wrapped cardboard around the harvestable central parts, hoping to keep most of the sunlight out. We will try leaving it on for a month to month & a half before trying a harvest again. In the meantime the plants will be fertilized and kept moist so that they keep growing. 

In a couple of weeks I'll give you an update after we sample the next harvest. 

Cardoon

This year was my first experiment growing cardoon. As you gather by now, I love experimenting. I had never heard about cardoon, never eaten it, never heard of anyone who had eaten it, so this a totally new one on me. But I was game to give it a go. 

Starting the seed was simple. I grew it like just about any other veggie seed. Started it in a flat, transplanted the tiny seedlings to pots, then when two sets of true leaves appeared and the seedlings were good sized, they went out into the garden. 

Now, I did read that cardoon gets to be a really big plant, so I spaced them about 3 foot apart, which sounded fairly close. Geez, lots of empty space around those small seedlings. So I planted radishes around them to use the space while the cardoon grew. That worked out just fine. Once the radishes were harvested, I dug in some compost around the growing cardoon then mulched the area. And I had dug in manure & compost prior to setting the seedlings out. So far, so good. 

As the months progressed, the cardoon plants filled up the space. Boy, I think they're pretty! Large dramatic toothed leaves. Impressive plants. After a while they produced those light grey-green hearts that I see in the Internet photos, so perhaps it was time to harvest some for a try. 

One of the brave community gardeners took the first harvested plant home to try. Report -- inviting flavor but bitter as all get-out. She followed the preparation directions on the Internet and it was still a big failure. 

Ok. First attempt = fail. But I plan the give it a few more tries. 

#1- try blanching the current plants for several weeks and see if that makes a difference.....

#2- try watering frequently. 

#3- try using manure tea on some of the plants.

#4- try digging in manure around the base of some plants. 

#5- try digging in compost around the base of some plants. 

The idea is to try encouraging some rapid growth plus exclude sunlight to the edible parts. On most of the plants I'll leave the outer leaves exposed to the sun but blanch the hearts. A few plants I'll try blanching the entire thing. 

Another thing, I'll try timing their growing period so that they are ready to harvest around December. The idea being to get the plants to "mature" because it's winter. I'll see if that makes a difference. 

Here's a closer look at how the gardeners are trying blanching....

I like the way it is being done. And I hope it helps eliminate the bitterness. Time will tell.