How to Eat a Boiled Artichoke

Sometimes a food presents itself on your plate and you have no idea how to eat it. The boiled artichoke sometimes falls into this category. With its green leaves, the artichoke asks to be plucked and eaten whole. But there's a strategy for eating a boiled artichoke.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cooked artichoke
• Bowl of melted butter (optional)
• Dish for discarded leaves
• Knife and fork

1. Be careful in handling a cooked artichoke, as it may be very hot on your plate. Wait until it is a little bit cooler to the touch, then pull out one leaf.

2. Examine the leaf. You'll see that at the bottom, at the edge that was connected to the artichoke, a half-moon of softer skin. That is the part you eat—-not the entire leaf. If you like melted butter, this is the time to dip the leaf into it.

3. Put the meaty edge of the leaf in your mouth and scrape it along your front teeth. This should scrape off the meaty part of the leaf. Do not bite. Do not eat the entire leaf. The rest of the leaf is stringy and stiff and not very tasty. Discard the leaf and move on to another.

4. Once you've finished all the leaves, you should be left with the heart. You'll see a bulbous center on top of the stem. Pull off that bulb. If you'd like, you can nibble on the edges of the bulb, but many people just discard it.

5. There should be a round base on top of the stem. Cut off all of the stem, leaving just this round base. Scrape off the hairy matter and leftover leaf bits, leaving the base clean. Put this base into the butter. This is the artichoke heart, the meatiest and most tender part of the plant. Once it's buttery enough, put it on a plate and cut it into bites.