Vegetable
Big Heart
A tier
Big Heart is a large, thorn-reduced commercial artichoke selected for oversized edible hearts and heavy buds suited to processing and fresh premium sales. Flavour is mild-nutty; the selling point is heart yield per bud. Green globes look familiar but pack more centre meat. Best when the goal is hearts—trim and confit, can, or grill. Fresh whole service also works given size. Handle as a heavy, high-value vegetable.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
Can HeartGrill LargeHeart ConfitPremium Whole SteamProcess Yield
Traits
Commercial PremiumHeavyHeavy BudLarge HeartMild NuttyOversized HeartProcess And Premium FreshThorn Reduced Commercial
History
US
Big Heart-type large commercial artichokes were developed for California production.
US
Processors favoured Big Heart for canned and frozen heart yield.
Fresh markets offered Big Heart as a premium large bud.
Big Heart remained associated with high heart-to-bract ratio artichokes.