Frozen Artichokes

Our answer

The frozen artichoke bottoms (sometimes known as artichoke cups) are most likely to be found in Middle Eastern stores, some Italian delis and some greengrocers. In London it is worth trying Panzer's in St John's Wood, Booth's in Bermondsey and Michanicou Brothers in Notting Hill. If you are making a special trip then we would suggest calling first, phone numbers and addresses are available on-line. As the artichoke hearts are frozen they should keep in the deep freeze for a good amount of time, so it is worth buying several packages at once.

In the US the frozen cups are more readily available in gourmet food stores.

If you can't find either frozen, canned or jarred artichoke bottoms then you could probably try using hearts instead, though we have not tried the recipe using hearts. For preference we would suggest the hearts packed in oil, but make sure that they aren't the ones that have been chargrilled as this will affect the flavour of the finished dish. The grilled hearts are better served as part of an antipasi platter.