Is there an artichoke shortage?

[Jenise]

I asked that question to CoPilot AI just now. There are and have been none yet at Costco this year, prices have been high elsewhere ($6 ea, highest I've ever seen) and I know that artichoke season begins in April so we should have been flooded with them by now.

Here's its explanation:

California Artichoke Shortage Explained
California’s artichoke shortage is the result of a perfect storm of climate, production, and market factors that have reduced supply while demand has grown.

Why it’s happening

Climate impacts: California’s artichokes thrive in mild coastal conditions, but recent weather patterns — including cool, foggy, and wet periods that promote mold and mildew — have hampered yields The Produce News.

Weather variability: Droughts, heatwaves, and frosts damage crops, while water restrictions limit irrigation greenfieldy.com.

Production challenges: Growers are shifting acreage to other crops due to higher costs and risk greenfieldy.com.

Seasonal timing: The current harvest window is short, and once picked, artichokes lose firmness and flavor quickly reports.uwncm.org.

Global and local demand: Artichoke popularity has surged over the past five years, driven by Mediterranean cuisine trends, plant-based diets, and chef demand gardenhypes.com.

It forgot to mention the shortage of pickers due to ICE actions.

I have not noticed that here, just last week, I saw some artichokes in our store that looked great, but because of what I had at home in the veggie, fruit line, I decided against buying any. I also have a few smaller jars and cans of artichoke hearts and marinated types.

I'm not an artichoke fan, so I don't know what the prices are around here, but there are certainly plenty of them around. I'm surprised to hear that there's a shortage.

[Jenise]

Yesterday at Haggen: $6 ea where about now I should be seeing them at around $3 ea.

$2.99 at my Stop and Shop

[Jenise]

Great price, Dale, even though you're a lot further away from Salinas than I am!

[Jenise]

Still no artichokes at Costco.

But jars of roasted/packed in oil artichokes courtesy of Mezzetti, or is it Mezzetta, brand showed up at Grocery Outlet for $2.99 ea. I bought 8 jars. Might last me all summer.

I like roasted/pickled artichoke very well -- I seem to like almost all pickled things (says the man who just made a batch of pickled ramps and restored a batch of sundried tomatoes) -- but the fresh ones don't ring ma bell. I have seen a few in the stores recently but didn't check the prices.

[Jenise]

Same here, Jeff. I come from a family of sour palates. Almost anything pickled, we love. These roasted artichokes would have been $6-7 in any regular store. That's the magic of G.O. (or Gross Out, as some friends call it). You never know what you're going to find, there's a certain treasure hunt element to going in there.

Same here, Jeff. I come from a family of sour palates. Almost anything pickled, we love. These roasted artichokes would have been $6-7 in any regular store. That's the magic of G.O. (or Gross Out, as some friends call it). You never know what you're going to find, there's a certain treasure hunt element to going in there.

I have a friend who shortens it even further, to Grout. I was there today, just browsing. The liquor section at this particular store is exceptional, and I've been buying a really good rye whiskey for my Manhattans there. Didn't really need any of that, though, so I ended up with some gluten free crackers (we have a good friend who comes over a lot who doesn't do gluten) and eight little bottles of Fentiman's "Connoisseur" tonic water (at $0.50/bottle).

[Jenise]

For years I avoided the place, Mike, being a little snooty. Then one day I had an appt for a blood draw nearby, and I mistakenly showed up an hour early. With time to kill and nothing to do, I paid my first visit. And from that came a dinner party I titled: Cheap Shit Chardonnay Challenge. Really fun. None of the GO wines beat the regular Grocery store challenger, an $11 chardonnay from Washington's Gilbert winery, but heck that was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately the buyer for our particular store (there are three within ten miles of each other, and this is usually the best) doesn't understand the high-end market and misses some deals like the vintage Grahams ports of a few years ago, but it's fun to look and my brother and BIL shop there all the time. It was they who told me about the artichoke hearts. I rarely find the wines worth bothering with, to be honest. Not compared, at least, to what I already have too much in my cellar. But for people don't know or can't tell the difference between Chablis and Sonoma, it's just fine. I hear the booze deals are sometimes pretty good, too. So you're a rye guy? Me too, and not long ago someone gave me a bottle of one they bought there. Stellan? Something like that? Outstanding stuff.

The wine in the store I typically shop in is also not particularly good. I'm not sure why that is because the same guy runs the wine and the spirits sections and the spirits are just great. A little while back, I picked up a bottle of Japanese whiskey that's aged for 41 years. If you can find it at retail, it goes for around $950. GO had it for $140, and I couldn't not try it. (That's by far the most expensive single item I've ever bought there!) It is very good whiskey although $950's a bit much. How it ended up at Grocery Outlet is beyond me.

A friend of mine is a true Groc Out connoisseur and has been in pretty much every store between eastern Sacramento and the SF Bay Area. We once made a pilgrimage to the Palo Alto store, as the wine selection there reflects the extreme wealth level of the surrounding area.

And yeah, I love my rye. My go-to cocktail is a rye Manhattan.

[Jenise]

The wine in the store I typically shop in is also not particularly good. I'm not sure why that is because the same guy runs the wine and the spirits sections and the spirits are just great.

Obviously he knows one better than the other. Up here we suffer from lack of knowledge--I'd love to get a look at the catalog. The Ferndale store tries harder to find stuff, but I don't think they know what they're looking at. The other two stores seem to just let the warehouse ship whatever they just unloaded, which is about 90% or better California so-called tank farm wines created just to sell at Grocery Outlet for $6/bottle. Close-outs of real wine from real wineries are a rarity. Once-good actual wineries like Cosentino and Michel Schlumberger are just labels now, and real wineries like Wente and Cline are bottling cheap-shit stuff expressly for this market. And the people who manage these departments don't seem to know the difference.

Palo Alto? Maybe I should cruise down to Bellevue sometime.

SCORE on the Japanese whiskey!! That department in my store is more a cabinet than an actual department. I don't even look. Though that Stellan rye I mentioned came from there. It was a gift from a friend and I, who didn't know better, took it to a whiskey party last summer where it was everyone's favorite (although when peanut butter flavored whiskeys show up, the competition's not that great). The levels of complexity in rye had not previously been obvious to most. My current favorite is Whistle Pig, at least among things I own, though I very very rarely reach for hooch. Would be too easy to make it a habit!

Would be too easy to make it a habit!

Definitely! We have 5:00 cocktail ritual, and the most common one for me is the rye Manhattan. I always stop at one, but there can be a lot of temptation to have more than that.