How To: Choose and Prepare an Artichoke
What You Need
Follow These Four Easy Steps
When choosing your artichokes, look for tightly-packed leaves; splayed leaves are a sign your vegetables is less than fresh. A couple of brown spots, however, are fine.
Using a knife with a serrated edge, slice off the top half inch for a nice flat surface.
Tip: Artichokes are very tough. If you don’t have a sharp knife, one with a serrated edge will do the trick.
Hold the artichoke by the stalk and use kitchen scissors to snip the pointy tips from the remaining leaves.
The stem is edible (and delicious), but if you plan to serve artichokes upright on the plate, slice it off with your knife.
Tip: Refrigerate unwashed artichokes in a plastic bag. A fresh artichoke will keep for up to a week. If the leaves begin to spread,
cook it as soon as possible.
