I love them! I grew up with them boiled and while I wasn't a huge fan as a kid, I've fallen in love with them as an adult. We boil them with lemon juice & olive oil for 45 minutes and then dip them ever so slightly in mayo (me) and butter (my husband). We've been enjoying them about once a week and continue to rave how they're our current favorite veggie!

I have to admit that I haven't given them much of a chance. I make a hot spinach and artichoke dip that uses marinated artichokes, and I like that, but I don't miss the artichokes when I leave them out. And frankly, when I first open that jar of marinated artichokes, the smell makes me nauseous.

Artichokes are one of my favorite veggies and foods overall. I prefer them in their simple glory - boiled or steamed (even put artichoke steamer on my wedding registry) - then eaten one leaf at a time, dipped in melted butter. When I was young, I would take 20-30 minutes to eat it and would then cut the heart in the smallest pieces possible to savor each bite. My mom always served them with steak & a baked potato. The steak went on the grill when the artichokes were served so we could all enjoy them hot first.

I'm with Susan, Cyndi and Annette... the simpler the better. Just steamed 'til tender and then served with lemon butter for dipping. I'm not a fan of mayo because it masks the subtle nutty flavor. Nor would I put a highly spiced stuffing in them either. It was a childhood treat that my mom would prepare frequently during the season. The artichokes were inexpensive (I grew up on the West Coast) and she used kitchen scissors to snip the thorny ends off each leaf working from the bottom up. That way the thorns were pointed away from you. Then she sliced off just the very tip. It took more time than chopping 2/3rds of the top off the way I see them prepared in mass production but they looked better, tasted better and were less dried out. After the leaves were eaten/scraped and the inner baby leaves plucked up like a little cap and devoured, we would cut the choke fuzz out. Finally we would find the buried the treasure, the heart, which was savored in tiny little chunks. My mom created a mini childhood adventure out of eating an artichoke.

I love artichokes, but only from a jar. No matter how many tutorials about how to prepare them, or who wrote it, fresh artichokes never turn out right for me.

I absolutely love artichokes , have since I was a little kid. I've always just steamed them, served with butter or some sort of dijonnaise for dipping. I did make them for dinner last spring and my husbands comment was pretty much along the lines of yours: "What makes these things worth all the work?" I guess there's no gray area! That said, one time I tried a pasta recipe that called for using fresh artichokes & it was so awful to do all the cleaning/scraping, etc that I swore to only use canned from then on in recipes.

I grew up in a family of 5 kids in Southern California, and artichokes regularly appeared on our table. Now we're all adults and we all still love artichokes, but none of our spouses/significant others do! I think it's the kind of taste you have to grow up with.

I grew up loving artichokes, but the best ones I ever had were in the height of the season in Sicily. They were prepared with a simple garlic, mint, salt and drizzle of olive oil, then roasted in a bonfire. The outsides got all burnt, but there were so many of them that it didn't matter that you threw that part away. They were really amazing.

Maybe you have to have eaten them while growing up? My Italian grandmother stuffed them (in the middle and in between all the leaves) with a simple mixture of bread crumbs and grated romano or parmesan cheese, and drizzled them with olive oil before placing them in a pot with water (about 1/4 to 1/3 deep up the sides of the artichokes), covered the pot and gently simmered them until the leaves could be easily pulled out. They were delicious eaten plain, without any dipping sauce. I still cook them that way, and while not as delicious as hers were, they are still a treat!

But I HATE canned artichokes!

It was 1968 and I was a new bride, having grown up Midwestern with a Mom who taught me to cook meat and potatoes style, now married to a continental husband - literally - born in France and fed European cuisine. Since it was during the Vietnam War era and he'd been drafted, we shopped at the Commissary and he introduced me to foods I never knew existed such as artichokes and Belgian endive.

I learned to simply steam the artichokes and pull the leaves off one by one, dipping them in a dijon vinaigrette until we hit "the prize" and only the heart remained. We'd cut the heart in small pieces, drowning each sliver in the vinaigrette and savoring each morsel - probably even pausing between bites to prolong our feast.

When our children came along they joined the game as soon as they were old enough and artichokes are still considered "party food" whether marinated, whole and then steamed, or ingredients used in some special soup or other dish. Which just once again goes to show, what's good is what you're used to.

Why fuss with the prep? I LOVE artichokes but refuse to kill the love affair with trimming, de-fuzzing, more trimming and cutting. Just throw 'em in a pot of water or steam them 'til their tender and enjoy each leaf dipped in melted butter. Best part is the heart and stem. Sweet and delicious, I can have two for dinner and call it a night. Yum!

Couldn't agree more. Artichokes are much ado about nothing.

Artichokes = umami deliciousness!!!!!!!

It always bugs me a little when I see a recipe call for "artichoke prep." It's difficult and wasteful-- why doesn't everyone just trim the tops and remove the outer layer of leaves AFTER they've been cooked? If you pull off the outside leaves before, you'll end up with a lot of unpleasant fiber on the heart. And the tops are also much easier to trim after cooking-- although that mars the thistle-like beauty, IMO.

Also, I lived in New Orleans, where stuffed artichokes are really popular, and they ALWAYS steamed the artichokes before stuffing and baking. Again, seems like a total no-brainer.

I feel sorry for anyone who says artichokes are too much work! They have no idea what they're doing!

I love them. Use scissors to clip off the tips of the leaves (where the thorns are) and make the stem even so you can place it standing up in a pot with water. The water should go up to just under the leaves. Low temp. Let them steam in the water. I then make melted butter and eat the leaves one at a time, dipping them in the butter. When you get to the leaves that are very thin you can scoop them away and eat the heart of the artichoke dipped in the butter. Yummy!