Venice Recipes and Curiosities
from the Venetian Cuisine

Castraure
Artichoke Buds

Ingredients (fryed):

Artichoke Buds

00 wheat flour

egg

frying oil

salt

Ingredients (stewed):

Artichoke Buds

garlic

parsley

olive oil

salt

Modus Operandi to fry

Remove, if any, the external wooden leaves and cut lengthwise the buds with the stipes .

Crumb the quarters with egg and wheat, then fry them in abundant oil. Dry on some blotting paper strewing with salt.

Modus Operandi to stew

Remove, if any, the external wooden leaves and leave the buds whole.

Set the artichokes in a pot, strew them with minced garlic and salt, then cover the artichokes with water.

When all the water is evaporated, take off from the fire, set on a dish and strew with minced parsley and olive oil..

E Castraure

Artichoke Buds

Sliced lengthwise, they can be eaten even uncooked, dipping them in a moisture of olive oil, pepper and salt (pinzimonio).

E Castraure

Artichoke Buds

The isles of the Lagoon of Venice, and the Venetian Coastal are famous for a high quality artichokes production. They are much smaller than, I.E. the Roman artichokes, but very tasty.

The castraure are the first buds to come from the plant each year, which are cutted away to improve the productivity of the plant.
A single artichoke plant, after this operation, can produce more than one hundred chilos of artichokes in one season.

The most famous island for castraure production is the isle of Sant´Erasmo, where a fair is made in the season of the buds cutting.