In article >,
"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:

> Om wrote about cardoons:
>
> > I think I'd blanch or boil them and try them in a salad first to test
> > the flavor since I've never eaten them before. Where the heck did you
> > find them??? I've been considering trying to grow them since I've not
> > been able to grow artichokes in this climate.
>
> I've eaten them before, but not for about five years. They were in my local
> Safeway this morning. Regarding cultivation, Wikipedia says this: "Cardoon
> requires a long, cool growing season (ca. 5 months), but it is
> frost-sensitive. It also typically requires substantial growing space per
> plant and hence is not much grown save where it is a regional favorite."
> Well, we don't have that long cool growing season where I live, and we *do*
> get frost, so this isn't the best place to grow them. If you've got the
> climate and the space, go for it!
>
>
> >> I might see if the leftover strings have enough of that enzyme to
> >> coagulate milk.
> >
> > Ooh, please tell us if this succeeds?
>
> Turns out that the rennet is only extracted from cardoon flowers, which
> means the strings wouldn't have enough to matter, so into the garbage
> they'll go. If you are successful growing cardoons, maybe you'll be able to
> harvest the flowers and carry out that experiment.
>
> Bob

We have a lot of wild thistle that blooms in the spring, so maybe if I
started them in the fall, they may grow. We've had a number of freezes
tho' this winter. I may decide to set up a PVC loop greenhouse as it'd
be cheaper than messing with pop-ups again (that disintigrated after
about 4 years) and try them in there. That way they'd have the cold
growing season and I could protect them from freezing.

It'd also allow me to try some mushroom kits from fungiperfecti.com
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

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