The first wee globe artichokes began poking their little heads above the leaves in mid-September. By the start of October, we were eating them, and its pretty much the only veg we ate for three months. We did chomp our way through the last of the winter veg as everything got tougher and older and went to seed. Because of all the rain I never planted any peas, and we would usually be eating broad beans as well but had the worst harvest of those in twenty years – (maybe it was the endless rain that stunted them) and the yet to be planted asparagus is still providing us with zero.

There is nothing wrong with a diet of globe artichokes though! We mostly ate them simply a la francaise with a vinaigrette to dip the base of the leaves into before scraping off the flesh with our teeth, and to drench the central hearts in. This year I made, for the first time, what I will call Carciofini a la Francesca – after Gerard’s Italian mumma who made them in her younger days. I never got to eat any of those back then so had to quizz Gerard as to taste, texture and consistency, as well as researching Italian recipes. I was dubious but they turned out to be delicious (all these recipes to come in the next few days.)

A globe artichoke plant is a giant thistle. The part you eat is the immature flower-head. They are perennials which means that once planted they grow back in the same spot every year. They multiply by throwing out baby plants at the base of the big plants which you can cut off with a bit of root attached and replant. We have a dedicated bed that grows nothing else. We hardly do any maintenance. At the end of the season, after the plants die back, we cut out the dead stems. During the winter we sometimes throw driftwood ash over the bed when we empty the fireplace and apart from this totally ignore them. Then every spring we are rewarded with hundreds of them. We have twenty plants, and each plant produces at least 13 globes which makes 260 plus globes. One large globe grows in the centre of each plant, which soon grows three more around it, and each of that three grow three more. Each generation is smaller than the last, and the very last are small enough to make bottled artichoke hearts which are every bit as good as the bought ones, and out of which you can also make an artichoke dip.

An internet search of the health benefits of globe artichokes convinces me we have a new superfood here! They have the highest level of antioxidants of any vegetable (cynarin and silymarin), also the highest level of protein of any vegetable (at 3.5 gm per 100gm). The antioxidants increase bile production in the liver which helps remove harmful toxins and helps your thyroid – they are a recommended food for people with Hashimotos disease (underactive thyroid). These same antioxidents also increase good cholesterol and decrease bad and regulate blood pressure. Artichokes are extremely high in fibre so are very helpful in regulating blood sugar for diabetics and are the best thing for gut health. They are also extremely high in vitamins C and K, some B vitamins (folate and B6) and Potassium.