[JonK]

I've been happily eating artichokes, steamed or boiled, for decades (I'm from the Midwest originally, so I dip my leaves in lemon butter; my wife from California insists on mayo). I rinse the artichokes before cooking them, but the thistle is compact enough that I'm sure I'm only affecting the outer leaves.

Which brings to last night: the leaves of our boiled artichokes were visibly gritty with sand, making them unpleasant to eat. This persisted for quite a way in towards the choke. I've never--yes, never--encountered that before in the hundreds of arties I've pleasureably consumed. We finally resorted to a bowl of hot water at the table, dipping and swirling the leaves in the water before applying our chosen condiment. Not convenient.

Have others run into this problem? Is there a secret cleaning method we don't know about? Are the now growing artichokes in the Sahara?

[Suzanne]

This is indeed strange, because artichokes grow on bushes, head UP.

Picture of artichoke on bush

The only thing I can think of is when you're preparing the artichokes to cook, after you trim them, try to spread the petals, and then soak them in acidulated water for a while.

[CrazyTATT]

With all the rain out there(in the artie growing lands), who knows what could of blown around...

I though they grew elevated enough to not recieve any "ground effect" soil wash, like the lettuces and melons have been as of late.

I would just cook em up and whae the thistle has opened some, shake vigorisly in the cooking water, and let the debris settle to the bottom....?