finding frozen artichokes

Can anyone recommend a place where I can find frozen artichokes? I imagine these small, already cleaned and ready-to-go in a bag or box. I have not been able to find them in my usual places including Jewel, WalMart, Jerry's etc.

I can always find jarred artichokes but sometimes the vinegar and oil marinade is not right for whatever we are making.

My travels take me to Morton Grove, Niles, Skokie, Glenview and Evanston on a regular basis but I am willing to travel further afield if need be. THANKS very much for any suggestions!

--Joy

I've never seen frozen (though I don't really look for them), but I have seen artichokes canned and packed in water at either Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I don't remember which, but you could call and check.

It's been some months since I bought any but I think Trader Joe's always has bags of frozen artichoke hearts. Pretty good product. I should know better than to use the word "always" when speaking of Trader Joe's.

Joy wrote:Can anyone recommend a place where I can find frozen artichokes? I imagine these small, already cleaned and ready-to-go in a bag or box. I have not been able to find them in my usual places including Jewel, WalMart, Jerry's etc.

I can always find jarred artichokes but sometimes the vinegar and oil marinade is not right for whatever we are making.

My travels take me to Morton Grove, Niles, Skokie, Glenview and Evanston on a regular basis but I am willing to travel further afield if need be. THANKS very much for any suggestions!

--Joy

I know I've bought frozen artichoke "cups" (cleaned bottoms) at Arax Foods on Milwaukee between Ballard and Church, but it's been a couple years since I've even been in there. I bought a bag more recently, but I'll be darned if I can remember where I picked them up.

Pretty sure I've seen them at Fresh Farms in Niles.

I was able to get a bag of frozen artichoke bottoms @ Mariano's on Roscoe@ Western when they first opened. I'm not sure they still carry them. I was less than extremely pleased with the product and decided to stick with fresh artichokes for future usage. They had nice looking baby 'chokes when I was there a couple of days ago.

I have a 12-oz bag of frozen artichoke hearts that I purchased within the last couple of months at the Park Ridge Trader Joe's. Seems like the price was less than $3.

Caputo's on Harlem has fresh "baby" artichokes on sale now for $1.49/lb. They're easy to prepare and freeze... No choke in the little guys, simply peel back to the yellow inner leaves, chop off the tops, put in acidulated H20 while you prep the rest and saute with a little shallot, thyme and garlic.

Dlongs wrote:Pretty sure I've seen them at Fresh Farms in Niles.

Saw them there last night--frozen bottoms from Greece in 1 kg bags (in the frozen case across from the milk and cream).

Thanks to all for the ideas!

So, the frozen artichokes that I am looking for are baby-sized artichokes, halved lengthwise and trimmed. As mentioned, these are so small that they do not have true chokes. They do have some of their leaves so they are pointed at one end and have a short stem at the other. I have clipped a half-dozen recipes that call for these but I have never seen them.

However, the frozen artichoke bottoms, cleaned cups, are a very interesting idea for other uses. Eggs Sardou, here we come!

And the fresh baby artichokes are wonderful in the fritatta with the taleggio cheese that Pie-Love suggestedthat I love to make. Both the fresh baby artichokes and the taleggio cheese might be available at Caputo’s. Always ask to sample or at least smell the tallegio. It is a soft cheese and the big piece that they buy does not move quickly enough. If it smells kinda ammonia-like, it’s spoiled. Use some brie instead.

As Jacques would say, happy cooking!

What about canned artichokes in brine, not in oil?

Now after seeing the follow-up post, I understand that this is not what was sought, but for whoever's curious, bagged frozen artichoke hearts (cleaned cups) are always available in the frozen veg section at Garden Fresh Market in Mundelein and probably other GFM locations as well.

mchodera wrote:Caputo's on Harlem has fresh "baby" artichokes on sale now for $1.49/lb. They're easy to prepare and freeze... No choke in the little guys, simply peel back to the yellow inner leaves, chop off the tops, put in acidulated H20 while you prep the rest and saute with a little shallot, thyme and garlic.

It's time I get over there.

Joy wrote:Thanks to all for the ideas!

So, the frozen artichokes that I am looking for are baby-sized artichokes, halved lengthwise and trimmed. As mentioned, these are so small that they do not have true chokes. They do have some of their leaves so they are pointed at one end and have a short stem at the other. I have clipped a half-dozen recipes that call for these but I have never seen them.

Well, I don't know what to tell you about the Trader Joe's frozen artichoke hearts. The bag does not specify that they are baby-sized, but I measured one through the bag, and it was just a tad longer than 1 3/4 inches. These are cut in half, they are not whole, and they are trimmed across the top. But if there is a TJ's near you, can't hurt to take a look. I bought them to use in a recipe for "fluffy omelettes" that was recently in Cook's Illustrated. I made one version, and we liked it, but I haven't tried the bacon-artichoke filling yet.

HarvesTime at 2632 W Lawrence has frozen artichoke bottoms, can't remember if I saw hearts. IIRC it is a Greek brand. Their fresh produce, artichokes and more, is consistently good quality and cheap. I also saw bottoms at Market Place on Diversey but the price was unmarked and on lookup they were >$20/bag. HT is a few dollars cheaper.

www.harvestimefoods.com