Hunchback cardoon

Cardon gobbo

What it is

Around Nizza Monferrato the plants are bent over in autumn and buried in earth; deprived of light they grow back up towards it, which is where the hunch and the name come from. The burial also strips the bitterness, and this is the one cardoon eaten raw, dipped straight into bagna cauda.

In the kitchen

Cardoon blackens the moment it is cut — work it in water acidulated with the juice of a lemon per litre, and pull the strings off the ribs the way you would a stick of celery. Cooked cardoon wants 30 to 40 minutes; the gobbo eaten raw wants none.

Goes with

Anchovy Garlic Olive oil Butter Cream Parmesan Walnut

Same species

Artichoke Camus de Bretagne artichoke Cardoon Mammola artichoke Poivrade artichoke

In season alongside

Doraji (balloon flower root) Escarole Radicchio Treviso tardivo Acorn Bagnoli truffle

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