My children and I love artichoke tea and eat artichokes as a snack. There are so many great benefits that come from this flora looking vegetable! Artichokes are beautiful, elegant and packed with nutrients like potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron and antioxidants. They also contain protein and are high in fiber. Great for the health of your hair, skin, nails and has repairing properties for cells to improve your immunity. Artichoke has positive effects on your digestive system and can lower bad cholesterol. I like to get the most out of my foods, so I boil artichoke in order to enjoy the tea made from cooking the artichokes. And I can still eat the leaves, heart and stem dipped in a mayo, lemon balsamic dip! The tea is delicious with a bit of honey and lemon mixed in. So complimentary that it tastes similar to fresh pressed sugar cane juice!
Ingredients Tea & Snack
2 large artichokes
5 quarts of water
1 tbsp salt
Dip (Yields 2 tablespoons)
1 tbsp mayo
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
¼ fresh cracked black pepper
¼ salt
¼ sugar
Method
Dissolve 1 tablespoon salt in room temp water in a large bowl that will fit artichokes. Soak artichoke for 5-minutes to clean them. They float so weigh them down with a ceramic bowl or plate. Rinse well after soaking in salt water.
In a 6 quart pot, add room temperature water and artichokes. You can halve them or leave them whole. I halved mine for photo purposes.
Bring to a boil on high heat. Once water begins to boil, cover with lid slightly a jared; reduce heat to medium-low and let artichokes simmer for 30-35 minutes.
Turn off heat and leave artichoke to steep for another hour. This will allow time for the tea to become more flavorful and absorb more nutrients from the artichoke.
While the tea and artichoke are cooling down, let’s prepare our dipping sauce.
Mix mayo, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, salt and sugar. Store in the refrigerator until ready to consume.
A little patience and now we get to enjoy a healthy and great tasting tea and treat!
When tea is cool enough to handle, use a coffee filter to strain the tea. This will give you a clean clear golden liquid to drink without debris.
To eat the artichoke itself, you can peel each individual leaf and dip the base into sauce and scrape the tender base off with your teeth. To eat the heart, you’ll want to remove the fibrous section in the middle of the artichoke. That part is not consumable. But you can eat the middle soft part of the stem!
Notes: Tea can be served warm or cold with a bit of honey and lemon juice. Tea can be stored in the refrigerator up to 1-week. Artichoke leaves and heart should be consumed within 3 days. Be careful of the tip of the leaves, it is pointy and sharp. If you have little children, snip the tip off before cooking.
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