“Crudaiola Candini” little artichokes

The “brindisino” variety of artichoke is autochthon of our area.
This kind of artichokes can only be cultivated taking small
plants from an already existent plantation. The cultivation
starts in the beginning of October and the picking in the
month of May. It is a very hard work and requires a lot of care:
just think that, to pick a chase of these artichokes, we have
to work for hours on fields of many hectares. The “candino”
artichoke is the last one that is picked, in the month of May.
The fresh artichokes end their working process within eight
hours of being picked. This kind of artichoke is very tender. We
remove the leaves and we turn it by hand with a small knife.
Then it is scalded and is put in extra-fine-olive-oil.
They are like the cherries: once you have started you just go
on! It is a very precious product because of the little quantity
produced in a season and often soon sold out for their
exquisiteness. Our artichokes are tender, crackling and very
appetizing. Very good as hors-d’oeuvre, to dress rice or a
pasta-salad. Space to fantasy!