Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Artichoke Festival



This year, the Artichoke Festival will be held in May in the Monterey Peninsula area at Castroville, Ca. My friend goes every year with her grandmother – imagine that she loves artichokes so much (yes – she’s Italian) – and always has an spectacular time.

I finally learned to like them by eating them with a whole lot of other vegetables in an antipasta. I also like Artichokes because they are really healthy and are a significant source of vitamin C, folic acid and magnesium. Virtually fat-free, the artichoke weighs in at 25 calories (per medium artichoke) and is very low in sodium.

One of the things that I discovered since I started shopping in the Italian markets is that it pays to buy good artichokes. They are a little bit more expensive but there is no match in flavor when compared to the canned ones.

Bon Appetit!