Spineless cardoon
But enough about me. That is the actual name of this artichoke-like thistle.
A spineless cardoon is a variety of cardoon (botanical name Cynara cardunculus), which is a hardy, edible perennial plant related to the artichoke. This specific variety, often named 'Porto Spineless', is bred to have soft, silver-gray, deeply lobed leaves and stalks without the sharp spines found on other cardoons, making it easier and safer to handle for culinary purposes. The plant is grown for its tender, artichoke-flavored stalks, which are blanched before cooking, and also for its dramatic ornamental appearance with large, thistle-like purple flowers and architectural foliage.
It is adapted to dry climates, native across a circum-Mediterranean area from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece and north to Croatia and Southern France; it may also be native on Cyprus, the Canary Islands and Madeira. In France, the frost-tender cardoon only occurs wild in the Mediterranean south.
Spineless cardoon
But enough about me. That is the actual name of this artichoke-like thistle.
A spineless cardoon is a variety of cardoon (botanical name Cynara cardunculus), which is a hardy, edible perennial plant related to the artichoke. This specific variety, often named 'Porto Spineless', is bred to have soft, silver-gray, deeply lobed leaves and stalks without the sharp spines found on other cardoons, making it easier and safer to handle for culinary purposes. The plant is grown for its tender, artichoke-flavored stalks, which are blanched before cooking, and also for its dramatic ornamental appearance with large, thistle-like purple flowers and architectural foliage.
It is adapted to dry climates, native across a circum-Mediterranean area from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece and north to Croatia and Southern France; it may also be native on Cyprus, the Canary Islands and Madeira. In France, the frost-tender cardoon only occurs wild in the Mediterranean south.