I'm not going to sugarcoat this: trimming an artichoke (also known as turning or paring) the classic French way is a labor of love. The leaves are prickly, and you have to cut away about 75 percent of the vegetable before you reach the edible portion. However, there are shortcuts: ways to prepare artichokes that require less time, less fussiness. Whether or not you can deploy these tactics is a matter of how you want to cook them—or not cook them, as it were.
Artichokes (which are actually categorized as flowers, botanically speaking) can be eaten raw if you'd like. They can also be steamed, roasted, fried, braised, or grilled. The one thing that I would recommend, if you're choosing to prep and cook fresh artichokes, is that you make a dish in which the artichoke is the true star. Our digital director, David Tamarkin has gone on record as a person who will only use canned artichoke hearts. And it's true that if you plan on blending them into a dip or tossing them into a salad or a braise with a lot of big, bold flavors, relying on canned (not marinated) or frozen artichokes may be the way to go. But, if you're here because you want to highlight the buttery, grassy, fresh flavor of artichokes in season, keep reading for all the ways to treat them right.
How to Prep Artichokes
The first step for prepping artichokes, no matter your chosen method, is to fill a bowl with cold water and squeeze the juice from at least half a lemon into it. This acidulated water will serve as a resting place for the trimmed vegetables while you work on the remaining ones. Without the lemon, the artichokes will quickly turn brown (like a cut apple). If you ever feel like you're moving slowly, give the artichoke-in-progress a dunk or rub the cut lemon over the expose flesh to mitigate oxidation.
- Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze in the juice from half a lemon or a whole lemon if working with a very large batch. You can toss the rind into the water too, if you like: some flavor will be pulled out of the zest at it sits.
- Using a serrated knife, and working with one artichoke at a time, cut the top 1 inch of the artichoke and discard the prickly leaf tips.
- Cut half an inch from the bottom of the stem. It should have a white or pale yellow center point with a bright green burst of color all around. If the color looks dull, cut a little more off, but remember: the stem is edible (and some say the best part) so don't cut away too much.
- Using your hands or a paring knife, peel or cut away the dark green, leathery outer leaves. Stop once the leaves feel more flexible and you've reached leaves that are medium green at top and pale yellow at the stem end.
- Use a small spoon or melon baller to dig into the core of the artichoke and scrape away the hairy center (this is the choke). Get it all out and discard—this part is not edible.
- Use your paring knife or a vegetable peeler to trim away any dark green remaining on the base and to peel away the tough skin of the stem.
- Drop your trimmed artichoke, aka artichoke heart, into the acidulated water and continue with the rest of your artichokes.
