Paestum Artichoke

Carciofo di Paestum is a protected geographical indication, registered in 2004, covering artichokes of the Tondo di Paestum variety grown in the Piana del Sele in the province of Salerno. The variety is a local selection from the Romanesco family, bred on the plain over generations.

The head is spherical and tight, with bracts pressed hard against each other and a distinct dimple at the apex, the single easiest way to identify it. Colour is green with violet shading at the base of the bracts, and the main head weighs 150 to 300 grams.

The quality that matters most does not show in photographs: it has no spines at all, neither on the bracts nor on the leaves. Preparing one means removing two or three rings of outer bracts and trimming the stem. No gloves, no patience required, and a far higher edible yield than any spiny variety.

The other defining feature is earliness. In the Piana del Sele the crop starts in late February, when most of Italy has nothing, and runs into late April. Heads cut early have barely any choke and bracts that stay tender almost to the outside, which is why they can be eaten raw.

Clean, green and nutty, with the pleasant bitterness that defines artichokes and a mineral finish. Less grassy than a globe artichoke and noticeably less bitter than a spiny Sardinian one, with a sweetness that comes forward when the head is roasted or braised.

The texture is the argument for it. Tight young heads are tender through most of their bracts, and the heart is dense and creamy rather than fibrous. The peeled stem eats like an extension of the heart, so never throw it away.

One effect worth knowing: artichokes contain cynarin, which temporarily suppresses sweetness receptors, so whatever you drink immediately afterwards tastes sweeter and flatter than it is. This is why artichokes have a reputation for wrecking wine, and why it is not the wine's fault.

Cleaning is trivial precisely because there are no spines. Pull off two or three rings of outer bracts, trim the tip, peel the stem with a vegetable peeler and drop everything into cold water with lemon juice so it does not brown. Do not leave it soaking for hours, though: flavour leaches out.

Raw is the Piana del Sele trick with early heads: shave them wafer-thin on a mandoline and dress with olive oil, lemon, salt and shavings of pecorino or parmesan. It only works with young, tightly closed artichokes.

Roasting on embers is the traditional local method and requires no cleaning at all. Put the whole head straight on the coals, let the outside char, then peel back the burnt bracts and eat the heart with oil, salt, garlic and parsley.

Stuffed the Campanian way: open the bracts, pack in breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, pecorino and sometimes anchovy, stand the heads upright in a pan with a finger of water and oil, cover and cook gently for forty minutes.

Also excellent battered and fried, baked into a frittata-like tortino with eggs, stewed with potatoes, or preserved in oil after a short boil in water and vinegar. The peeled stem is as tender as the heart.

An artichoke is an unopened flower and it goes on transpiring after it is cut, losing water and turning fibrous as it does. A long stem is a reservoir, which is why heads sold with the stalk still on last much longer than trimmed ones. In the vegetable drawer, wrapped in a damp cloth or perforated bag, they run four or five days. The trick that works better is to stand them in a glass of water like cut flowers, stem submerged, which gets them close to a week before the bracts start to slacken and splay.

Once trimmed the cut surfaces darken within minutes, so pared hearts go into cold water sharpened with lemon or vinegar; leave them soaking too long, though, and flavour leaches out with the colour. Raw artichoke does not freeze, turning spongy on thawing, so blanch three or four minutes in acidulated water first, or freeze it already cooked, in wedges, for six months. Under oil is the old method: blanched hearts dried thoroughly, jarred and covered completely, a year sealed in the dark and about a month refrigerated once opened, oil always over everything.

The head should be a closed sphere with a dimple at the crown, never conical or drawn out, and the bracts should have no spines at all: a pricking hook at the tip puts you in front of a Sardinian spinoso or a violetto instead. Buy it with several centimetres of stem attached, firm rather than spongy, and bend the stem to test it, because it should break clean while a stem that simply flops has already lost its water. Weigh the head in your hand: a good one feels dense and tight and squeaks slightly when squeezed.

On a crate tag or a pack look for Carciofo di Paestum IGP with the EU logo and the Consortium; carciofo campano and carciofo tondo are not the denomination. Browning at the cut end of the stem is oxidation, the same reaction that darkens a cut apple, and is different from dry yellowed bract tips or wilted stem leaves. The round green heads sold in the US and Britain are usually Green Globe, close in shape and a different variety. Paestum rarely travels fresh and turns up mostly as preserved hearts.

Fresh Paestum artichokes rarely leave Italy, and the season is short. In Italy they appear from late February in markets across the south and, at a fifty per cent premium, in northern cities. Buy heads with several centimetres of stem attached: the stem is both a freshness indicator and the best part.

Abroad, the realistic purchase is preserved hearts in oil from Campanian producers, sold by Italian delicatessens and importers such as Eataly and Gustiamo in the US and Sous Chef in the UK. Expect 8 to 14 dollars or 7 to 12 pounds for a 280-300 g jar, which works out at roughly 12 to 20 dollars per pound of drained artichoke.

Look for the full wording Carciofo di Paestum IGP with the EU mark. Carciofo campano and carciofo tondo are not the designation. For fresh heads, judge weight against volume, check the head squeaks when squeezed, and reject any that have started to open.

Capaccio Paestum and the surrounding plain from March to April, when the artichoke festivals fill the tables with roasted, stuffed and fried heads. It is also the moment to see the landscape: artichoke fields to the horizon with three Greek temples standing in the middle of them.

Trattorie between Capaccio, Agropoli and Battipaglia serve them the traditional ways, and many farms in the plain sell direct and run small restaurants, often alongside the buffalo mozzarella made a few hundred metres away.

Salerno, on the seafront and in the old town, puts them on spring menus. The best single day out anywhere in the area is the obvious one: the archaeological site at Paestum, a buffalo dairy, and a plate of artichokes roasted over embers, all within ten kilometres of each other.