Artichokes are they worth it?

"Artichokes ... are just plain annoying ... After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual 'food' out of eating an artichoke as you would rom licking thirty or forty postage stamps. Have the shrimp cocktail instead." -- Miss Piggy

That is actually true, you do have to go through quite a bit of effort to be able to eat an artichoke, especially if you are trying to cook a recipe that only requires artichoke hearts and you want to go for fresh rather than canned or jars. One of my daughters wanted to try to make a Lebanese artichoke stew, she thought ten artichokes was quite a bit until she realized how small actual hearts are. This led some family members to wonder about the history of the artichoke, how anyone discovered what was the edible parts...

It doesn't appear anyone knows that part of the history though I have to personally say while I enjoy the leaves with butter or hollandaise, the heart of the artichoke goes well with alfredo, pizza, veggie subs and sauteed with a touch of lemon and garlic. It is more economical to buy the hearts in cans or jars unless you find a great sale, such as yesterday when my daughter found artichokes ten for one dollar.