To prepare: To keep the artichoke from discoloring, fill a bowl with water and squeeze in lemon juice.

Here you go! This is the artichoke. I chose a large one. I learned after handling the artichoke this time that it's better to chose small ones.

Peel the outer leaves until the yellow part becomes more pronounced. Do not discard the removed leaves. You can use them in a different recipe.

Can you see it? The plucked part is hard and the texture is unpleasant, so shave it off. I also discovered that the green part of the stem can be eaten by shaving it thinly and boiling it.

Cut off the top half of the bud. It's best to cut it drastically. The top part is too hard to eat even after boiling it anyway.

Cut it in half. Wow, it's beautiful.

Can you see it? The bottom of the purple part has a lot of fine hairs; scoop it out with a knife. The bottom of the hairy part is the artichoke heart. Be careful not to scoop out this part. If the purple part is too thorny, scoop it out as well.

Soak the artichoke in the lemon water to prevent it from discoloring.

Boil some water, add the lemon juice, and boil the artichoke. When the artichoke heart is tender enough to pass a chopstick through it, it is done. Boil it to your preferred tenderness. Since you are preparing them for cooking, it's OK if they are still on the firm side.

These are done boiling, but since the artichoke is very fibrous, peel the outermost leaf and eat it to check the tenderness. If the top part is still tough, you may want to cut it off. (See the helpful hints in the left column.)