Posted on 05/07/2015 6:50:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
While we love Outside Lands, and the Folsom Street Fair, and maybe even the Ramen Festival for the sheer horror of watching famished people wait three hours for soup, the best fests are the unique ones that only happen once. (Before anybody bristles about how Folsom is totes unique, there’s also Up Your Alley and Folsom East.)
Castroville Artichoke Festival The last weekend in May — which is not Memorial Day weekend, but the one after — Castroville throws its Artichoke Food & Wine Festival, which has been running for well over half a century to showcase the Pajaro Valley’s signature crop. While familiar enough, artichokes aren’t exactly the most common agricultural product in California (and the US produces less of them than Peru or Morocco). What’s up with that? They’re really good
To rectify this, the festival is bigger than ever. Beyond children dressed in artichoke costumes and a music stage with country acts, there will be wine tastings and micro-brew pairings, “ARTY-tinis” made from something called ARTY Water, an artichoke eating contest, vendors, celebrity chefs doing demos, and more. Entrance is only $10 for adults.
Sadly, we don’t live in a corn-and-soybean region where State Fairs routinely feature life-sized Michael Jacksons sculpted out of butter, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have, um, art o’choke. Among the many rules in the curiously named “Agro Art Contest” (sounds so angry!) is a stipulation that three-dimensional pieces must contain at least 60 percent produce and 10 percent artichokes. Sponsor Ocean Mist Farms provides the latter, as well as the cauliflowers and the broccoli. Entrants can also use brush or grasses, but not flowers.
And if artichokes have always left you scratching your head, wondering why anybody likes these sharp-edged thistles that take more work to eat than crab does, disabuse yourself of any preconceived notions with this handy artichoke fact sheet. But in case you're too curious to click around for the etymology of this unusual word, it comes from the Arabic al-karsufa, which got mutilated into articiocco ("high stump") by the time it reached Italy, who made up for the error by creating the artichoke liqueur Cynar.
Silly nomenclature aside, artichokes are delicious and you'll definitely come away with a deeper understanding of their culinary possibilities after attending this only-in-California festival.
Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival, Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairground Rd., Monterey.
Castroville? CASTROVILLE?"
I love artichokes! Even if Hillary Hitlery’s favorite expression is, “Okey-dokey artichokey!”
And here in South Carolina we have the annual Salley S.C. Okra Strut. Just had a Crawfish Festival. Catfish has its day, too.
This is a new one to me and I’ve been to a bunch of Garlic festivals in Gilroy...great way to refresh the wine cellar.
Grew up in Monterey, loved going to Watsonville to pick the strawberries.
Nearby Gilroy also has a yearly GARLIC festival.
When I was a boy it was spectacular and even on normal days you could smell the approaching city from the highway from literally 10 miles away.
Alas, today something like 90% of garlic in the USA is now imported (mainly from China) and so the popularity of the Gilroy Garlic festival has dived for the deck.
The frangrance is also not nearly as powerful either.
I'm totally serious.
“It may have choked Artie but it ain’t gonna choke Stymie!”
As hard as it is to imagine because its such a bland place, Ms Monroe lived in Castroville for a short period.
Bland?
Plus, its constantly fogged in.
The festival has greatly improved since moving to the fairgrounds. It will be bigger this year with improvements made in the inside display areas. Parking is a problem so get there early.
We stopped at Pezzini Farms a couple weeks ago on our way back from Pt. Lobos — strawberries as big as tennis balls (well, almost) just bursting with the fresh picked flavor. The fields are full right now.
their french fried artichoke hearts are
the
best - and their light tempura batter - I managed to get a hold of that recipe -
I love artichokes and mayo!
I got married at the Castroville courthouse in 1971.
Back in the 70’s, during the recession, we lived off of artichokes and calamari. Calamari at one point was $.08 a pound at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey.
While doing basic training at Fort Ord I visited Castroville,
The artichoke capital of the world.
WOW!
My late great Italian Grandmother made incredible stuffed artichoke hearts, I miss them and her dearly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.