My gorgeous purple artichoke was ready to harvest yesterday. Labeled at the nursery as ‘Violetto,’ I think it may be ‘Violet de Provence’ or Violetta di Chioggia.’ Grown from seed there may be some variations in the artichokes. The thorns are wicked and the leaves are prickly too.

But prepped for steaming they’re easy to handle. This might be the best artichoke I’ve ever eaten. It was tender but each leaf or petal was meaty and full of flavor. My husband and I shared this one but he commented that it was substantive enough to be a meal for one. 

With an abundance of navel oranges I made a Whole Orange Cake from Sunset Magazine. Two oranges are whirled in a food processor and you can see the blended oranges in the measuring cup.

The cake is moist and decidedly “orange-flavored.” With a confectioner’s sugar and orange juice drizzled icing, it was a luscious treat.

We still have at least 50-60 oranges on the tree so we’ve been having fresh squeezed orange juice most every morning. We love the pulpy sweetness of the juice.

And here’s the bouquet for the church foyer on Palm Sunday.

To see what other garden bloggers are harvesting head over to Harvest Monday, hosted by Our Happy Acres.