grafitti cauliflower

Grafitti purple cauliflower (as grown by me) – looks great, tastes great. unlike purple beans, it doesn’t lose colour when cooked – if anything, it gets darker. in a controlled taste test (dinner tonight), 2 out of 3 kids ate it with glee.

the internet told me that the purple is due to anthocyanins (a form of phenol antioxidants), also found in purple cabbage and red wine. i say yum.

i grew it from starter plants purchased at the big box store back in april. because i planted using square foot gardening, i spaced the plants a mere 12″ apart and they seem to have done fine, with no sign of common cauliflower infestations (aphids, mildew, etc.). No need to blanch by tying leaves together over the forming head – i think that the purple colour was actually more intense in the heads that were exposed to full sunshine. Stay on top of them though – the heat we’ve had over the last week has caused one or two of the heads to start sprouting a “rice-y” appearance to the curds. To harvest, cut the cauliflower at the stalk and compost the rest of the plant.

on other fronts, picked more berries at the u-pick today: another 21 lbs of strawberries and 15 lbs of raspberries. all in the freezer. i’m a bit berried out at the moment. harvested rhubarb. watered. being a locavore is hard work.

i need some chocolate.