This vegetable from the thistle family appeals to both young and old alike with its delicate, sweet flavour … but how can you get the most out of its properties?
The artichoke, or Cynara scolymus to give it its scientific name, is a variety of the thistle species, closely related to milk-thistle.
When you eat an artichoke, you’re actually eating:
If artichokes are allowed to carry on growing, the bracts end up spreading out and they come into flower (the ‘choke’ which grows on top of the heart gets bigger and turns purple), at which point they are no longer edible.
Artichokes are normally consumed cooked, particularly the famous ‘Camus’ variety from Brittany, though some can also be eaten raw, like the ‘violet de Provence’.
The best way to prepare artichokes to preserve their benefits is to steam them or cook them in a pressure cooker.
For this, it’s usually best to remove the excess stem of the artichoke by hand in order to get rid of most of the tough fibres that are buried in the heart. You then have various options:
Both these methods preserve artichokes’ nutritional qualities. They can either then be served with a vinaigrette, or for the ‘gourmands’ among you, a béchamel or mustard sauce.
Other recipes (such as violets de Provence braised in white wine, or sautéd with white wine and olives) where the artichokes are cooked in a frying pan on a high heat, may result in some of their precious nutrients being lost.
Very low in calories but high in fibre and packed with antioxidants(1), the artichoke provides many nutritional benefits, making this key vegetable of the Mediterranean diet a major aid to slimming. 100 grams of cooked artichoke has the following nutritional value:
A number of studies have shown that artichokes help to promote weight loss and reduce blood lipid levels (3-5).
However, it is primarily for its benefits as a detox aid that the artichoke is consumed by devotees of healthy eating. Indeed, artichokes help to:
This is because of their high content of cynarin, also known as dicaffeoylquinic acid , a specific polyphenol considered by scientists to be their active ingredient (7).
To significantly increase your cynarin intake, you could take a cynarin-rich artichoke extract , such as that included in the supplement Liver Support Formula (category Liver and detoxification).
And if you’re keen to boost your intake of beneficial fibre, you could combine the above with Psyllium Seed Husk, a blond psyllium supplement.
It’s worth noting too that artichokes also contain the excellent flavonoid luteolin, a substantial amount of which is offered by the supplement Luteolin.
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