Hot weather drying up artichokes in Castroville

The hot weather hitting the Central Coast this week may be drying up the area’s artichoke crop, a vegetable used to more mild temperatures throughout the year.

When it gets this hot, the growers typically do not harvest, which means restaurants like the Giant Artichoke in Castroville do not get the vegetable fresh.

“The steamed ones we have a little problem because it’s kind of hot, but the server always explain to the customer,” said Janet Tapia, the owner of the Giant Artichoke Restaurant.

But Tapia has been doing this for over 20 years now. She knows to freeze thousands of pounds of her artichokes so she can keep on serving.

“We prepare it when there’s a lot of artichokes to be ready for this time,” said Tapia.

“Artichokes like the mild, gray, gray skies that make the artichoke plump out and become that edible flower that we all love,” said Pat Hopper, the manager of the California Artichoke Advisory Board.

Hopper says the vegetable is harvested almost all year long, but growers do not pick them usually if it is 75 degrees and above. It is all a matter of irrigating enough water to keep the soil cool in the heat.

“Heat also produces a lot of insects too, a lot of insects thrive on the warm weather,” said Hopper. “So it’s a continues battle, you have to really give it to the growers, they work hard.”

Farmers call these hot months the “Indian Summer,” and it is pretty typical to see the heat during this time. For business owners like Janet, it is a matter of preparing ahead.

“That don’t affect the business because we always have frozen artichokes, we always have thousands of pounds of the artichokes,” said Tapia.

Hopper tells KION the artichoke acreage has been going down in the Castroville area in recent years. She says it could be partly due to climate change.