![\"Carciofi\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/03\/Carciofi.jpg\" "\\"Carciofi\\"")
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nFederica: \u201cCarciofi!!!\u201d<\/strong> (Artichokes!!!)<\/font><\/p>\n Silvia: \u201cNooo!!! Ma dove li hai trovati???\u201d<\/strong> (Nooo!!! Where did you find them???)<\/font><\/p>\n Federica: \u201cTorino<\/strong> Silvia: \u201cAaaahhhhh, mi hai illuso!!!!\u201d<\/strong> (Aaaahhhhh, you got my hopes up!!!)<\/font><\/p>\n Federica: \u201cSe riesco a portarli l\u00ec ti chiamo<\/strong> Federica lives in Stockholm (Sweden), but at the moment she\u2019s back in Turin visiting her family, and it\u2019s there that she found the artichokes. Carciofi<\/strong> are a seasonal delicacy for us Italians, but apparently rare to find in many countries outside Italy, and when I lived in England I really missed them, so I can relate to the above dialogue. Despite the fact that according to Geoff they don\u2019t taste of anything, in my opinion artichokes have a very delicate and unique flavour, which makes it worth putting up with the not too easy task of cleaning and preparing them.<\/p>\n Pulire i carciofi<\/strong> (cleaning globe artichokes) is an art which you can only learn by watching somebody doing it. I found a nice video on YouTube, which I particularly like because Nonna Rosa (the lady in the video) cleans the artichokes parsimoniously just like my grandmother used to do, not like some of the pretentious experts of the \u2018professional videos\u2019 that you find, who axe them away with massive scary looking butcher\u2019s knifes. When Nonna Rosa delicately cleans the artichokes she places her thumb at the base of the leaves to save the tender parts. Moreover, she specifically says that you don\u2019t need to dig out the heart of the artichokes unless they are old and hard, and full of lana<\/strong> (wool,<\/em> her expression, meaning the fluffiness inside the artichoke where the seeds of the flower will eventually form)<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nonna Rosa speaks with a Neapolitan accent which is not always clear to understand, especially with the \u2018jolly\u2019 background music, and she uses some typical southern expressions, such as mo\u2019<\/strong> (now), or ve\u2019<\/strong> short for vedi<\/strong> (you see). Here\u2019s my transcription of the video, with a translation into English.<\/p>\n Allora, prima devi sbucciare queste ??? (rumore di sedia)<\/em> …. che sono duri … ecco, no? cos\u00ec, no? metti il dito qua, no? qua, in modo che lascia questo … questo frutto qua. Ecco, adesso che le hai tirate tutte le foglie intorno … devi tagliare qua cos\u00ec, … e buttare via. Mo’ questi li tagli cos\u00ec … ecco, leva tutto … il duro, questo \u00e8 duro. Mo’ devi fare cos\u00ec, ve\u2019, … questo per friggere … a spicchio, cos\u00ec.<\/strong><\/p>\n So, first you have to peel these ??? (noise of a chair)<\/em> \u2026 which are hard \u2026 aren\u2019t they? like this, right? put your finger here, okay? here, so that it leaves this \u2026 this fruit here. Now that you have removed all the leaves around \u2026 you must cut here like this, \u2026 and throw it away. Now you cut these like this \u2026 , remove everything \u2026 the hard part, this is hard. Now you have to do it like this, you see, like this if you fry them \u2026 in segments, like this.<\/font><\/p>\n Se tu poi li devi far col riso, allora tu li tagli a fettina sottile di qua … lo taglio un po’ per farti vedere? Allora se tu devi far col riso devi far cos\u00ec, sottile sottile, cos\u00ec. Dentro ci metti il limone<\/u> per farli rimanere belli bianchi cos\u00ec.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are going to cook them with rice, then you\u2019ll cut them in thin slices here \u2026 shall I cut a bit to show you? So, if you are going to cook them with rice you must do it like this, very thinly, like this. You put the lemon in<\/u> (see note below)<\/em> so they remain nice and white like this.<\/font><\/p>\n Poi quando diventano duri i carciofi \u2026.. perch\u00e9 qua fanno la lana, qua fa la lana. Questo \u00e8 fresco perch\u00e9 \u00e8 giovane. Quando diventano vecchi che fan la lana, tu la devi far cos\u00ec, una lana … questa \u00e8 tenera perch\u00e9 \u00e8 giovane, vedi? invece quando \u00e8 duro, poi ci son le spine … che pungono in bocca, allora lo devi scavare un po’ cos\u00ec.<\/strong><\/p>\n Then when the artichokes become hard \u2026.. because they make the wool here, it makes the wool here. This is fresh because it\u2019s young. When they become old and they make the wool, you must do it like this, a wool \u2026 this is tender because it\u2019s young, can you see? Instead when it\u2019s hard, then there are thorns \u2026 that prick your mouth, then you must dig it out a little bit like this.<\/font><\/p>\n Poi, questo qua, questo lo devi buttare, e questo lo puoi cucinare. Lo pulisci prima. <\/strong><\/p>\n Then this one here, you must throw this away, and you can cook this one. First you clean it.<\/font><\/p>\n N.B. Dentro ci metti il limone<\/strong>: what Nonna Rosa means is that to prevent the artichokes from going black when they come into contact with air, you should always put the juice of half a lemon in the water. What\u2019s more, either wear gloves or use the lemon to clean your hands when you have finished peeling the artichokes, because they will stain your fingers an unsightly looking dark brown colour.<\/p>\n\u201d<\/strong> (Turin)<\/font><\/p>\n\u201d <\/strong>(If I manage to bring them there I\u2019ll call you)<\/font><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n