CHER AND TOM FAYTER, artichoke farmers of south Sacramento County, have bred a sweet, intensely flavored variety called Kiss of Burgundy (their green is partially diffused with dark red) that’s coming into large-scale commercial production. “You see it at farmers’ markets in Sacramento and San Francisco,” Cher told me. I asked her whether Kiss of Burgundy was bred from some of the purple European varieties. “No, it came from a bunch of junk seed from Castroville. Artichokes aren’t open-pollinated; they don’t come true from seed, you know. If you plant a seed, you get a variety different from the parent. So we grew out this batch of seed and started making crosses, looking for a hybrid variety that could withstand our summer heat out here in the Central Valley, then we bred for a variety that could take the colder winters we have here, then for a large amount of meat, and then for flavor.” What about the color? “God just threw that in,” she said. “You know, they are really good. Some guys doing a cable show on farm produce were eating them raw.”