Re: Here's my purple cauliflower.

**AtlantaMarie** 2/21/2020, 10:44 am

NICE!

countrynaturals 2/21/2020, 1:03 pm

markqz wrote:Here's my purple of sicily cauliflower. It's a little unclear, but apparently this particular variety is actually a broccoli. It feels more like a broccoli -- not a hard "shell" like cauliflower. A little disappointing. I broke off a piece and it tasted good. Slightly sweet. I'll probably harvest tomorrow. I have one other flower on the way, and then some others that have enormous leaves but no flower. Maybe I can use the leaves as wraps?

Beautiful, Mark. Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 3170584802

**Scorpio Rising** 2/21/2020, 5:32 pm

markqz wrote:Here's my purple of sicily cauliflower. It's a little unclear, but apparently this particular variety is actually a broccoli. It feels more like a broccoli -- not a hard "shell" like cauliflower. A little disappointing. I broke off a piece and it tasted good. Slightly sweet. I'll probably harvest tomorrow. I have one other flower on the way, and then some others that have enormous leaves but no flower. Maybe I can use the leaves as wraps?

Interesting! It almost looks like a combo of cauli and broc? Did it taste mild like cauli? It is lovely, I am a fan of purple stuff! And colors in general (makes the grocery-bound jealous, lol)

markqz 2/21/2020, 9:14 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Interesting! It almost looks like a combo of cauli and broc? Did it taste mild like cauli? It is lovely, I am a fan of purple stuff! And colors in general (makes the grocery-bound jealous, lol)

It's very much like a combo of cauli and broc. I would say that it tastes just like cauliflower, but with a texture somewhere between broc and cauli.

There's a local market here only a mile away that keeps produce prices pretty low. So my theory is that I want to grow things that are either expensive or unavailable -- like purple purple cauli, purple kohlrabi, purple bok choy, merveille lettuce, celeriac, etc. The exception would be things that are really easy to grow.

markqz 2/23/2020, 2:14 pm

I took this with flash, so it's a bit washed out. But it shows how the inner structure is more like broccoli:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 X3DmtB1

Although most sites say that you don't need to blanch purple cauliflower, I'm wondering if it might help if I did?

**Scorpio Rising** 2/23/2020, 8:39 pm

I do the same thing! Love growing stuff no one else has ever seen! I love you

**sanderson** 2/24/2020, 6:39 pm

Mark, Your Purple of Sicily looks like it was starting to bolt, probably because of your warm weather. But, as long as it is still tasty, it's a success! Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 3170584802

markqz 2/24/2020, 11:01 pm

sanderson wrote:Mark, Your Purple of Sicily looks like it was starting to bolt, probably because of your warm weather. But, as long as it is still tasty, it's a success!

It may be that they are "born" ready to bolt then. Did yours develop a "hard" layer like cauliflower?

I've got a second one now about the same size ready to harvest. After that the others seem to be much smaller. Maybe they were stunted by transplanting. Tomorrow it may hit 80, so I may be left with nothing but cauliflower (or is it broccoli?) leaves to stir fry. The leaves are really huge.

Some people at this latitude leave their broc/cauli for a second year, but it's unclear if they ever get a 2nd flower.

**sanderson** 2/25/2020, 5:50 pm

Yes, my cauliflower had a nice helmet. Did you see the photo posted above?

markqz 2/25/2020, 10:36 pm

sanderson wrote:Yes, my cauliflower had a nice helmet. Did you see the photo posted above?

Yes, but it's hard to tell texture from a photo Wink

markqz 2/27/2020, 12:58 pm

Here's Purple Cauli #2:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 Xl1vC8d

The leaves were huge -- two feet long and 8 inches or more across! Can't store them all in my tiny refrigerator. The leaf stem ribs are strangely salty. So they're headed to the compost bin.

But here's the best part. The peeled main stem has a mild flavor and a chestnut-like texture. Kind of like the best kohlrabi ever:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 Rd303TB

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 Rd303TB

**sanderson** 2/28/2020, 5:27 am

Peeled stems, thanks for the info.

ralitaco 3/2/2020, 12:28 am

You guys got me thinking about trying some! Thanks for sharing

**sanderson** 3/3/2020, 2:33 pm

Ralitaco, That's the problem with sharing photos of unusual varieties. It's temping to try them, like we don't already have enough seeds. Wink

ralitaco 3/3/2020, 7:33 pm

sanderson wrote:Ralitaco, That's the problem with sharing photos of unusual varieties. It's temping to try them, like we don't already have enough seeds.

Problem???? More like opportunity to build more SFG's!!!!

**sanderson** 3/7/2020, 12:51 am

I would love just one more bed, a 2'x8'.

OhioGardener 3/7/2020, 7:26 am

sanderson wrote:I would love just one more bed, a 2'x8'.

You can never have too many garden beds! Laughing

markqz 4/12/2020, 6:44 pm

Here's my "Easter egg" cauliflower. (I think it's large cauliflower #3 or 4) It was "hiding" in with the kohlrabi. Next time I'll have to pay more attention to intruder seeds.

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 KaWT5ww

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 KaWT5ww

and here's the heap of leaves that came with it:

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 Fv1LCWW

They got turned into "kale" chips. Spread over four baking sheets.

I have one more large cauliflower and one "maybe" flower on the way. Then maybe I can start using the squares they've been shadowing. Though it's been so wet and gloomy that it hasn't been much of an issue so far. Probably the cold was useful to help them complete their growth cycle.

**sanderson** 4/13/2020, 2:24 am

That Easter Bunny has been very creative this year!

mollyhespra 4/13/2020, 12:20 pm

What a beauty!!! I love you

ralitaco 4/13/2020, 2:10 pm

That is fantastic!!!
Do you eat the leaves too?

hammock gal 4/13/2020, 8:59 pm

Now that's a thing of beauty! You could make a bouquet with it. Then eat it, of course. hungry

markqz 4/13/2020, 10:47 pm

ralitaco wrote:That is fantastic!!!
Do you eat the leaves too?

It made four boxes of "kale" chips like this. Only one of them is eaten so far. I hate to not use the leaves, but I have a kohlrabi to harvest tomorrow.

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 QXFlDE0

Here's my purple cauliflower. - Page 2 QXFlDE0

ralitaco 4/14/2020, 1:55 pm

Wow! I had no idea you could eat them.

**Scorpio Rising** 4/14/2020, 7:23 pm

Wow! So gorgeous!

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