How to cook artichokes for making a dip

[sunray2003]

I referred to several videos on youtube and I boiled artichokes for about 40 minutes. The base of the artichoke came off very easily after boiling. But I still found the leaves soft on the inside, but hard/uneatable on the outside. What I am doing wrong?

[Querencia]

You don't actually have to cook fresh artichokes to make a dip of the hearts. A lot of people use the canned hearts (not the marinated ones). Also if you have a Trader Joe's convenient they sell bags of frozen artichoke hearts.

[jmcarthur8]

Most of the leaves just have a little bit of soft flesh that is scraped off (usually with the teeth). The 'heart' is the part to use for dip, and maybe some of the center leaves - just be sure to remove the choke.
The way I always cook artichokes is to rinse them, wrap them in saran, microwave on high for 5 minutes, and that's it. Done.

[paulj]

Expecting to use the tough outer leaves!

The crown (bottom) is most edible part. The inner leaves are tender enough to eat when canned, or on trimmed baby ones. But on the tougher leaves, people only eat the remnants of the crown that are stuck to the bottom.

[Robert Lauriston]

The usual technique is to trim off the inedible parts before cooking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o6AaC...