The cardoon is also grown as an ornamental plant for its imposing architectural appearance, with very bright silvery-grey foliage and large flowers in selected cultivars. In the US, it is rarely found in conventional grocery stores but is available in some farmers' markets in the months of May, June, and July. 5 Aug, 2008 . Vilmorin-Andrieux, M. & Robinson, W. (1885/undated). The researchers conclude that the whole complex probably originated in Sicily. Just checked on the RHS website and even there it is known as C. cardunculus but they have added "Scolymus Group". [14] Cardoons also are common vegetables in northern Africa, often used in Algerian or Tunisian couscous. Cardoon is one of the herbs used to flavour Amaro liqueur, which may be called Cardamaro. Altervista Flora Italiana, Carciofo selvatico, Cardoon. [2], The earliest description of the cardoon may come from the fourth-century BC Greek writer Theophrastus, under the name κάκτος (Latin: cactus), although the exact identity of this plant is uncertain. Cardoons are favored for their young leaves and soft, immature flower stalks, which can be eaten cooked or raw. For the surname, see. It is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times and still occurs as a wild plant. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Or you could get on a plane to Brindisi and try the real thing. This was traditionally done by burying the plant underground, thus, cardoon plantations in Spain are often formed by characteristic earth mounds surrounding each plant, the earth covering the stalks. The Story and Science of Invasive Species. "Before cardoons are sent to table, the stalks or ribs are blanched tying them together and wrapping them round with straw, which is also tied up with cord, and left so for about three weeks". In Europe, cardoon is still cultivated in France (Provence, Savoie, Lyonnais), Spain, and Italy. The flower buds of wild cardoons are still widely collected and used in southern Italy and Sicily. It is the leaf stalks, not the shoots. They are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers. The New Oxford Book of Food Plants agrees. They differ from the wild plant in being larger (up to 2 m tall), much less spiny, and with thicker leaf stems and larger flowers, all characteristics selected by humans for greater crop yield and easier harvest and processing. gratin de cardons). Despite contestants having a combined IQ of over 14,000, not a single competitor recognised the cardoon. However, they possess a few notable differences. [12] In the Abruzzo region of Italy, Christmas lunch is traditionally started with a soup of cardoon cooked in chicken broth with little meatballs (lamb or, more rarely, beef), sometimes with the further addition of egg (which scrambles in the hot soup – called stracciatella) or fried chopped liver and heart.[19]. Cardoon stalks can be covered with small, nearly invisible spines that can cause substantial pain if they become lodged in the skin. [2][12] Wild and cultivated cardoons and artichokes are very similar genetically, and are fully interfertile, but only have very limited ability to form hybrids with other species in the genus Cynara. While the smaller flower buds are edible like the artichoke (though not quite as meaty), it is the midribs of the large leaves that are eaten. Her nearly 20 years of experience in horticulture informs her work, which has appeared in publications such as Mother Earth News. While the flower buds can be eaten much as small (and spiny) artichokes, more often the stems are eaten after being braised in cooking liquid. The wild cardoon is a stout herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.8 to 1.5 m (31 to 59 in) tall, with deeply lobed and heavily spined green to grey-green tomentose (hairy or downy) leaves up to 50 cm (20 in) long, with yellow spines up to 3.5 cm long. Wild artichokes of south Italy: did the story begin here? [2][3][4][5], It is adapted to dry climates, native across a circum-Mediterranea area from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece and north to Croatia and Southern France;[6] it may also be native on Cyprus, the Canary Islands and Madeira. C.cardunculus is cardoon C.scolymus is globe artichoke Same family so related but different. If it’s in a veg plot, it’s a globe artichoke, but this is hardly a satisfactory state of affairs. Because of their seasonality (from November to February), cardoons are a staple of the Christmas dinner in Navarre and the surrounding regions; for the same reason, cardoons are often sold as vegetable preserves, usually in water or brine, so that they can be eaten all year round. Unlike the artichoke, it is traditionally raised from seed. At first glance, cardoons (Cynara cardunculus) and artichokes (Cynara scolymus) look very much alike with their deeply lobed leaves and assertive presence in the garden. If you fancy growing your own, it’s probably worth growing a named, vegetatively propagated variety, which will almost certainly be better than a plant grown from seed. Missouri Botanical Garden: Cynara Cardunculus, Sonoma County Master Gardeners: Artichokes. Are There Other Plants That Look Like Rhubarb? Calflora taxon report, University of California, "Cardo - GuÃa de Hortalizas y Verduras - Consumer Eroski", "Brodo Con I Cardi (Ricetta tipica abruzzese)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cardoon&oldid=980672122, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Plants in bloom, Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina Natural Park, Portugal, This page was last edited on 27 September 2020, at 20:09. It is a naturally occurring species that also has many cultivated forms, including the globe artichoke. Cultivated cardoons and wild, western cardoons are genetically almost identical, and it seems very likely that the western cardoon is an escape from cultivation, and that the original wild cardoon was an exclusively eastern Mediterranean plant. He writes and lectures extensively and has written five gardening books, including Compost and No Nettles Required. Hard to imagine a better place to eat a 'Bianco di Ostuni’ than in Ostuni itself. I’ve never met anyone who has tried eating them, and anyway it almost seems a waste of such an attractive plant. My personal rule of thumb is that if I see Cynara in a flower bed, it’s a cardoon. Cardoon requires a long, cool growing season (about five months), and while it is not particularly frost-sensitive, in heavier freezes it may lose its leaves and resprout, or in extended hard freezes, die. The European Garden Flora, which lists everything, also thinks that the cardoon and globe artichoke are different species. In Italy in particular, there are many varieties, often named after localities, and with some distinguishing feature, such as head colour (e.g. The eastern wild cardoon is genetically distinct and is clearly the original wild plant. The Domestication of Artichoke and Cardoon: From Roman Times to the Genomic Age. The oil, extracted from the seeds of the cardoon, and called artichoke oil, is similar to safflower and sunflower oil in composition and use.[22]. Jess . Cardoon Cynara cardunculus The cardoon is a much hardier plant than the artichoke and makes an extraordinary ornament in the garden even when it is not being grown for culinary purposes. The solution was to look at the DNA of these plants, so that’s what they did. In Portugal, traditional coagulation of the curd relies entirely on this vegetable rennet. The main root can also be boiled and served cold. Cardoons and artichokes share a similarly nutty flavor due to their close relationship, although different parts of the plants are eaten. The RHS has awarded the statuesque cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) its Award of Garden Merit (AGM) as an ornamental plant, but its website also says “other common names: globe artichoke”. For a start, they have no truck with the idea of two species; there’s the cultivated cardoon and artichoke, and there’s a wild cardoon, but they’re all one species: C. cardunculus. It also became common in the vegetable gardens of colonial America, but fell from fashion in the late 19th century and is now very uncommon. Artichokes are traditionally propagated vegetatively, with numerous varieties selected over the centuries, varying from small and early-flowering to larger and late-flowering. Lesser known but of consideration is the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) which grows similarly to an artichoke, and at first-glance may be mistaken for one.
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