Cardoon 'Gobbo di Nizza' / 'White Giant Full Leaf' / Spineless

A beauty with coarse, coarsely toothed leaves, and white, thick leaf veins. Of course, this variety is also widely used for its wonderful, elegant thistle flowers: 2 m high with a blue 'wig'. For commercial cultivation, this is an excellent variety for a large production!
In the Netherlands, the midrib is usually more tender than in Italy, and thus the cooking time is considerably shorter. The preparation is as follows: separate the midrib from the leaf pulp. Remove any ribbed edges and the outer skin. Then cut into pieces of about 1 cm. Simmer until tender, which can be as quick as 25 minutes. Delicious with a cheese sauce!
Speaking of cheese: did you know that cardoon flowers are used as an alternative rennet for cheese? I ate a delicious small cheese made with it in Portugal!

Cardoon is a thistle-like relative of the artichoke. You eat the fleshy leaf stalk, which is wrapped in black foil a few weeks before harvest to blanch it. There are also other blanching methods. The flower is an ornament for the garden and vase and is therefore often grown for this purpose. However, we are seeing more and more serious eaters, and we collected various varieties for comparison. The flowering also differs slightly per variety.

Names:
Latin: Cynara cardunculus
Dutch: Kardoen
Also known as: Thistle-like relative of the artichoke
English: Cardoon