Sunday, April 01, 2007

Too pretty to eat?


This is a Romanesque broccoli-cauliflower cross, or, as it's translated here "yellow cauliflower". I've also seen it called other names, but most are similar to 'roman cauliflower', 'mediterranean cabbage', etc...

I'm not exactly sure what it should be called since it's a hybrid, but unless you'll be standing at your local grocer or seed distributor demanding access to this green goblin, the name's not so important. In this picture it looks like a conch shell, and it REALLY does look like that in actuality. It looks like a vegetable that deserves undue attention, such as a song about it, or at the very least, a blog mention.

When we first saw it at the market I genuinely thought it was too pretty to eat. We passed by it for a while, pointed at it, made admiring sounds and nodded approvingly, but didn't buy any right away.

We got over that.

We bought some a while back and cooked it up; it was very good -- more flavorful than cauliflower but without the tell-tale broccoli taste (I find that broccoli can sometimes taste like cabbage, especially if it's old).

When raw, this remarkable veggie's chartreuse green color is arresting, and the whorl pattern is hypnotic. Unfortunately this color fades to a light yellowish green when it's been cooked, but that doesn't make it any less desireable.

I hope it makes its way to the U.S. at some point. Or maybe not, so then you'll have to come here and find other astonishing things, in addition to odd edibles.

You can go HERE to read a good article on the fractal nature of this vegetable. I thought it was interesting.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/Romanesco/