I received my seed order this morning from Kings via Lotty society and noticed I had ordered a pkt of cardoon seeds..
Has anyone grown this before and what are your thoughts on it re taste etc ..
cheers Jim.. ..
I thought they were decorative only. Either that or someone has already answered on here and said leave it for it's blue flowers(attract polinators) as it wasn't much cop to eat. Not really what you wanted to hear eh?
I have a few free packets of Cardoon and I did not sow any because I too do not have a clue what to do with them. Which bit do you harvest to eat and how do you prepare it? Does anybody know?
I have grown some this year.
sow march/april indoors. plant may. blanch early october (i use black plastic) takes 4 weeks. you eat the stalks.
if the plants don´t freeze off in the winter they´ll flower the following summer but cannot be eaten then.
here (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,4181.0.html)
is some more information.
Thaks blight - really dim question coming up - do you wrap the stems with the black plastic to blanch them?
yes.wrap it round twice and tie up.
thanks for that ...Jim
Baggy, I have been told the same, they are not worth the effort ...
Derekthefox :D
i trhink they are. there´s not all that much effort involved. and they are spectacularly beautiful plants.
Have to agree with Blight, well worth it! Beautiful plants and I thought you ate the flower bit before it became flower?? Though grow them just cos I love them! ;D
Lottie
QuoteI thought you ate the flower bit before it became flower??
i suppose you could try that. but you would have to overwinter the plants somehow.
in my area they don´t stand the cold.
Haven't tried it, Blight, just have a memory for trivia and forget important stuff! ::)
Lottie ;D
Isn't cardoon a big thistle? Or have I had too many vodkas?
Are we talking here about using them as a vegetable or a flower?
As a vegetable, well I have said, I think they are not worth the effort, as a flower, well I don't grow flowers so can't comment.
Derekthefox :D
I've eaten cardoon stalk - not worth the hassle as a food crop - just taste like rough stringy celery to me! Flowers are fantastic blue thistle like things though - but not edible.
See this thread: http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,12440.msg116010.html#msg116010
I have globe artichokes, which look a little like cardoons, and those are the ones where you eat the flower buds.
But I also have jerusalem artichokes - these are the ones you grow from tubers, you eat the tubers which grow in the ground. They also give spectacular flowers, being related to the sunflower, you get masses of small flowers on them in around September and they make a stunning cut flower.
I would grow it on the plot as a bit of a eye opener or a conversation piece :) Like stated here not worth the bother as a food crop but hey it may make you the talk of the site. I would give it a go, nothing ventured nothing gained.
The_Snail
Ps. I think it appeared on the Victorian Kitchen Series that was shown on the BBC, the series with the late and great Harry Dodson
One of our gardeners lent me the series on video which is where I first heard of cardoon. Yield per acre of edible cardoon is probably similar to growing saffron. The bit you eat is about the size of a bunch of celery but with a lot more room taken up. Having said that, if you've the room it's worth growing. It does look spectacular and if you tie it up and wrap it in straw then plastic, it crops when there's not much else in the garden. My plants this year didn't bush up enough to eat but I'll be trying again next year.
BTW if anyone wants cardoon seed don't buy it. The head is as full of seed as dandelions, so I've got enough from my 24 plants to grow commercially.
@djbrenton,
maybe the cardoons don´t thrive in your area.
my two plants grew two metres high, we´ve had about 4 meals from each plant (two eaters) and there is still some left on the them.
as to the seed: cardoons should flower in their second year but then you cannot eat them any more. you sow them each year if you want to eat the stalks.
Further research has shown that you can eat the crowns as you do with artichokes.
They do thrive in my area. The plants I gave other people all did really well. It's just me ???
maybe you planted them too close together? mine were planted 2 metres apart.
and giants like that do want hearty meals and a good drink.
Quote from: redclanger on November 27, 2005, 12:30:55
Further research has shown that you can eat the crowns as you do with artichokes.
I didn't realise that - they seem VERY hard and prickly though, much tougher looking than globe artichoke - I would think perhaps they need a lot of boiling to soften them? RC are you going to have a go at eating them?
This is a picture of mine in the summer. They are right at the end of my plot on the boundary. I have read you can eat the flower buds - but don't fancy it! They overwintered last year with no problems here in Wales- will have to see if they survive this current cold spell as I haven't covered them. They died back completely after flowering then produced all new growth so don't see why you couldn't eat that - but then no flowers the following year I suppose ???
I might do a nothing ventured nothing gained experiment - it will be nearly two years till I can report backnow though.
So you have been dubbed the official A4A cardoon guinea-pig ... ;D
Derekthefox :D
periwinkle, mine looked exactly like yours which I thought was fine till I saw a single specimen I'd given someone else. It was really bushy and looked worth blanching.
@djbrenton
as i don´t mind to repeat myself:
periwinkle´s cardoon must have been a two year old plant or even older.
the "really bushy" one was a one year old. it is only those that you can blanch.
Yes, it was the second year - I was really late planting them and the plants were not all that big - so I left them. However, right now they are both small (heightwise) and bushy - all new growth.
@blight
Both mine and my neighbours bushy one were first year ( grown by me )plants. Mine looked like periwinkles, not all that bushy but with lots of flowers and my neighbours was a lot bushier, also with lots of flowers. Interestingly I'd prepared the ground as for brassica i.e. rock hard and my neighbour had just plonked hers next to her path without a care in the world. I suspect it may have been spacing them too closely as you suggest.