That sounds as though cardoons are going to be worth eating after all; so far, I've treated it as an ornamental. Do other people not blanch them at all?
Mine are a bit mini since they didn't do well last year and I thought it was because I'd moved them and put them under the hedge, and I moved them again. I now think it was the effect of having been moved plus the waterlogging so I'm going to leave them and let them turn into triffids.
