Once it’s April, you start seeing farmers selling fresh artichokes in little stands across the city. Artichokes are piled up on one side of the stand, a big bucket full of water with lemon juice sits in the middle. You watch the farmer skillfully shaving off the outer petals until all he’s left with is the artichoke bottom. He then throws it into the water to prevent it from discoloring. When you purchase some, he puts them in a plastic bag with some of the water. Now the artichokes are ready to be taken home to be cooked.
Eating raw, fresh artichokes is quite popular as well. You can often see people buying artichoke bottoms from the stands, squeezing a bit of fresh lemon juice on them (yeah, they bring along their lemon!) and eat it right there like a fruit. I can’t tell you how nutritious this is. So if you have the chance to get your hands on fresh artichokes, try it raw. You’ll love it!
As for some reasons why you should eat more artichokes:
- They are rich in fiber (one artichoke contains about ¼ of our daily fiber need)
- They are rich in magnesium, folic acid, potassium and vitamin C
- They are low in calories
- They protect the liver
- They lower cholesterol
By the way, May is the best month to buy artichokes, but you can find them until the end of June. Many Turks buy fresh artichokes in season and freeze and consume all throughout winter.
Here’s a very simple and popular artichoke dish called “zeytinyagli enginar” in Turkish.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 artichoke bottoms (keep in water with lemon juice)
- 400-500gr. green peas- fresh or frozen
- 1 carrot (medium)
- 1 potato (medium)
- 1 onion (medium)
- 2 glasses/cups/500 ml water
- 1/3 glass/cup/80 ml virgin olive oil (you can put more if you like)
- 1 lemon juice (medium)
- 1 tsp flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- Fresh dill to garnish
- Dice the carrot and the potato, add to the peas and mix together
- Peel the onion and place it as a whole in the middle of the vegetables
- Once the vegetables are ready, remove the artichokes from the water and wash them thoroughly
- Put the artichokes facing down on top of the vegetables
- In a bowl, mix the lemon juice, flour, sugar, salt and olive oil, then add 2 cups of water.
- Pour this mixture over the artichokes and other vegetables.
- Put a plate on top of the artichokes to prevent from floating
- Cover the lid on and cook over high heat until the water boils, then simmer over low until most of the water is absorbed.
- Once the dish is cooled, transfer the artichoke bottoms facing up to a serving plate
- Discard the onion
- Stuff the artichokes with peas, carrot and potato mix.
- Garnish with fresh dill
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