2 MILLION BLOSSOMS


Good and Good for You Sadly, science hasn’t substantiated artichokes’ randy reputation for boosting libido—nor do they cure baldness or help you conceive a son, as the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder claimed. Historically, herbalists used extract of artichoke leaf to treat digestive, bowel, and liver problems. Modern medical research has preliminary evidence that early herbalists were on to something, although more study is needed; what is clear is that the sensual artichoke is a healthy treat.


A single medium-sized ‘choke is just 60 calories (ignoring the melted butter you’ll surely want to dip it in), but it supplies more than 10 percent of the daily allowance of six essential nutrients, including vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, and          2004 USDA study ranked artichokes among the top three vegetables for antioxidant content. And vegetarians take note: compared to most vegetables, artichokes are comparatively high in protein, about 4.2 grams per cup. They’re also high in  


More Artichokes, Please! With the market demand for artichokes growing, horticulturalists are looking for ways to grow more plants, faster. Traditionally, growers have used vegetative propagation—dividing established plants–in part because seeds from open-pollinated plants don’t always carry the traits of the parent plant. A team of Italian researchers recently experimented with “imposed pollination,” where bumble       but caged plants. Their results, published in the Annals of


Applied Biology in 2020, were promising: insect       


average seed weight. “These results could be very useful to modernize the agronomic management of globe artichoke and reduce the costs of cultivation,” the authors said. Henry Ward Beecher famously wrote of thistle


Above: Get creative with your cooking and bake artichoke into a tart.


12


           that has an eye for beauty take a view of the whole plant, and where will he see a more expressive grace and symmetry;           of artichoke seeds is easy to obtain and doesn’t cost a        


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108