Before cooking with artichokes you need to carefully clean and prepare this unique vegetable.

First, carefully remove the darker outer leaves until you get to the lighter and tender leaves. You will also need to cut off the top 1/3 of the leaves as they have very sharp barbs that must be removed before cooking.

Medium and large artichokes tend to have hairy centers that need to be removed. In order to do this, cut the artichoke in half and scoop out the hairy part with a spoon. Baby atichokes don't have this hairy center so no need to scoop anything out.

Artichokes also have a tendency to discolour when they are exposed to air so in order to keep the artichokes a plae green, place them in a bowl filled with water and sliced lemons.