Thursday, January 06, 2011

Cauliflower!

First head of cauliflower this morning. I have six or seven heads out
there, all of them ready to pick. In the past, I've made the error of picking heads too
late: The cauliflower goes all "ricey" with an unpleasantly fine
texture. It's still very usable at that stage, if you puree it, but of
course it's best to pick it while the lobes are still large and tight. So, I need to figure out how to use a lot of cauliflower... and soon.

Unlike broccoli, cauliflower doesn't produce additional heads after the first harvest.
I need to clear this row and transplant my cabbage seedlings into it.
We still have until at least mid-March to grow cruciferous crops...


We'll make cauliflower and hazelnut sandwiches from Nancy Silverton's
excellent book, The Sandwich Book.

5 comments:

AchillesRules said...

You have to include the penny in the shot for proportion.
M

Michael said...

i thought i needed a beer can!

Tabatha said...

My cauliflowers all look puny and have red leaves. That looks scrumptious!

joaniebaby said...

WOW! I totally forgot about my love of cauliflower! You said we have until mid march to plant. Since I am starting a little late, would you recommend I buy started plants or would I be ok planting from seed?

Michael said...

best to go with seedlings now, though some early varieties might do well from seed. i've observed that cauliflower grown too late tends to have an inferior texture--it grows too quickly in the spring, so the flesh isn't dense... that said, it tastes fine!