Can I eat this? Will I die?

Lumen

I have a new garden. I think it has eaty things.

It looks like an artichoke, but the tip of the leaves is a bit pointier in the middle than the pics on Google Images.

Will I die?

Speedwell

Unmistakably an artichoke, and a very pretty one, too. Not just the globe, but the whole plant. I could eat myself to death on artichokes with lemon drawn butter and prawns, but that doesn't count as "deadly", exactly.

magicbastarder

Lumen wrote: »

Will I die?

death comes to all of us eventually.

PlainP

Never eaten artichoke, it always looks really slimy when you see it cooked. Is it slimy in texture?

looksee

Globe artichokes are fiddly to eat and messy. I tend to think they are overrated, but they are interesting.

Edit, oh and there is a bit you don't eat, in the middle, don't know whether you would die or it just does not taste nice.

lottpaul

Globe artichokes promise a large amount and deliver little so enjoy what you can of it. The large fibrous "choke" in the centre is inedible - don't worry you wont even be tempted to eat it -- looks like a thistle head, but the "heart" part is attached to it and will need to be carefully cut away. Just google a youtube vid. You can also eat/nibble the base of the bigger leaves - to my taste they're nicer. Enjoy.

pwurple

That's surely the ornamental artichoke there... So tiny it's not worth the bother of eating.

Massive purple flower in a few weeks, like a mental thistle head.

Speedwell

pwurple wrote: »

That's surely the ornamental artichoke there... So tiny it's not worth the bother of eating.

Massive purple flower in a few weeks, like a mental thistle head.

I've had baby artichokes cooked nearly whole before. Would you be able to do the same with these?

Del.Monte

Horrible things - akin to trying to eat rubbery pine cones.

monkeynuz

pwurple wrote: »

That's surely the ornamental artichoke there... So tiny it's not worth the bother of eating.

Massive purple flower in a few weeks, like a mental thistle head.

Cynara cardunculus (cardoon)

The ornamental are edible and the edible ornamental, meaning they are one and the same.

Size of heads can vary we used to grow them eight feet tall with heads as big as eight to ten inches across.

Op don't eat the pithy middle but eat the segments with butter and homemade garlic mayonnaise.

Day Lewin

You boil them and then pull off the leaves. Have a dip nearby. And napkins.
Scrape off the tender tip of each leaf with your teeth. (You'll see it, the soft pale base)
Peel away the strawlike layer of "choke"
Cut free the delicate artichoke heart. I like vinaigrette for the dip but melted butter is great too.
It makes a mound of green waste for your compost heap, too. But so easy to grow! Fresh, organic, home-grown, delicious, what's not to love??

Delphinium

I was always told it was great to serve to your mother in law at first meeting. Can't be eaten with much dignity.

Lumen

When I was a kid artichoke leaves were basically just a vehicle for hot butter, at a time when butter was evil. You sort of scrape the bottom of the leaf with your teeth, and a few milligrammes of vegetable matter comes off in a hundred times it's weight in butter.

Hearts are delicious. I've only even eaten them from a jar.

I did a bit more reading and it seems these are not quite ripe; they should be right at the point of flowering.

If you don't hear from me again I'll have choked to death. Ba-dum-tish!