writer's life

Hints to this week’s peek

May 3, 2015

Want to know what the peek is this week? Here are some hints:

  • Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus is a variety of thistle species
  • The plant’s edible portion is the flower buds before blooming
  • The flower head is composed of an inflorescence with many bracts on an edible base
  • Another perennial variety is called the cardoon, which is native to the Mediterranean
  • Wild forms and cultivars exist
  • The bud’s edible parts include the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts as well as the base, called the heart
  • The immature florets in the bud’s center is known as the choke, or beard, which are inedible in older, larger flowers

Check out this week’s delicious peek.

photo by Erin Michaela Sweeney
photo by Erin Michaela Sweeney

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