Nancy, I'll send you $10 for a flat-rate box and all the baby artichokes you can fit in one... :) don't think that would be such a hot idea with the avocados, alas. You are invited to (re)join the pursuit of artichoke with those of us who are all crazy about them!

The good news is that you never need to worry about losing your artichoke to freezing, but the bad news is you've missed the boat on vernalizing your artichoke outside this year. Vernalizing means you "trick" the plant into perceiving that it's gone through a winter. Many plants won't bloom until they have been through a winter. For artichokes that means some number of days (forget how many off the top of my head) in the low 40s but never as low as freezing. You may be able to do this with your fridge, check some of the other artichoke threads from this year, someone was talking about it. It might be better to plant now and take the loss of this year, though, than keep your artichoke in the pot too long. In the future, if you can start from seed, in your area I'd just start them in the late summer and let them go through a real winter. But go ahead and ask around your area, because I'm telling you all this based on my reading and experiences in my area, which is real different from the Bay area.

Those recipes look good! I had forgotten about deep fried artichoke hearts - I've only had those in Castroville (north of Monterey). We did go to the Giant Artichoke Restaurant when we were there, but lots of restaurants there had them. The microwave method looks good, but I would not use plastic wrap in the MW. I cooked mine, cut in half so that they would be in the PC, and cut the stems off to cook make them fit in the pan as well (cooked them 12 minutes). I did cook the stems. I made a mayonnaise sauce for them with extra virgin olive oil (from Paso Robles), cayenne, mustard powder, and extra lemon juice, to thin it down. I thought I would have more mayo left over than I did. I used an EVOO with a strong peppery flavor. I'm going to have to consider more of the Ocean Mist recipes and maybe buy some baby artichokes for deep frying. They were cheaper at the farmers' market than at the grocery store, which is not usually the case for most produce.

"Only we dont get those nice artichokes with the long stem stil there. You folks out in California may get them in that way. Or, maybe not with all the drought and fires going on out there." I live not far from the Central Coast artichoke growing region and haven't ever seen long stemmed artichokes. I wonder if that's only done with young ones or if other than the standard commercial choke variety is used. With regular medium to large ones, the stems are usually (though not always) tough and stringy and while they seem to have the same taste as the part you pull off the leaves with your teeth, they are not easy or desirable to eat. The Central Coast growing region in and around the Monterey Bay area is a coastal plain and is hundreds of miles away from the current fires. This area is not connected to federal or state water supply systems so that all water comes from local rainfall and runoff from the surrounding hills. The trend of groundwater levels throughout the state has been downward for many years. In some areas, notably parts of SoCal, processed water from waste treatment plants, of drinking water quality after treatment, is nonetheless not put directly into system pipes but rather is returned to groundwater stocks. A good idea and one that probably will become more widespread. In other areas, such processed water is kept separate from potable water systems but is used for irrigation for golf courses and other public landscaped areas- San Jose has such a system. You see signs at such places that say something like "Irrigated with reclaimed water", lest anyone get upset about what otherwise could appear to be water wastage to maintain lawns and shrubs.