{ POWER FOOD }
Cauliflower Confidential Subtly tasty on its own, raw or cooked, this crunchy crucifer also shines as a sly substitute. A vegetable as beautiful as a flower? That just might be the one with “flower” in its name. The cauliflower, from the species Brassica oleracea, is a cruciferous vegetable, so called because, like its cousins cabbage and bok choy, it has four petals that resemble a crucifer, or cross. It also delights mathematicians with its fractal geometry—break off a bud, and it’s a microcosm of the whole head. Cauliflower is commonly white because of the protective leaves that grow around it. Without this layering, the head would be exposed directly to the sun’s rays, forming chlorophyll, which would turn it green. But some varieties do come in green—as well as orange and yellow and purple. Mark Twain called cauliflower “cabbage with a college education.” In Roman times, Pliny the Elder’s Natural History praised a food we think was cauliflower; in 1600, scientist Olivier de Serres wrote in Théâtre d’Agriculture about caulifiori, an Italian name for what was considered a delicacy in France at the time. After the reign of Louis XIV (who loved to have the veggie served at Versailles), cauliflower became more common in kitchens—although maybe not as highly regarded as before. Below? An entreaty to change that point of view and get back to looking at the food as Louis and Olivier did.
dietary fiber and inflammation-fighting antioxidants. For example, it contains sulforaphane, an antioxidant that in some studies has shown the potential to arrest cancer cells’ growth and protect against colon and prostate cancer—it also may help reduce high blood pressure and keep arteries healthy. Those who were told about carrots keeping eyesight strong will find a great companion vegetable in cauliflower, as sulforaphane can also help preserve retinal tissue. BUY/STORE/SERVE Cauliflower is available in grocers’ produce sections and vegetable markets. Look for heads that are firm, closed tightly and comparatively free of discoloration; softness to the touch marks the beginning of spoilage. Cauliflower can lose some if its texture and taste in the freezer, so try to buy just what you can promptly
serve or prepare in your chosen method. Don’t wash until the day of preparation, just be sure to keep what you’ve purchased in a perforated plastic bag in your refrigerator. It can keep for five to seven days this way. Perhaps the serving category is where the budding vegetable shows its greatest strength. It can be cooked, pickled or served raw with a nice dipping sauce. You have to be careful not to lose the flavor; try to steam it if you can, or blanch it. Cook it just until it’s tender. (In a pinch you can microwave it in about an inch of water for about five minutes.) In recent years cauliflower has become a popular low-cal, gluten-free pinch-hitter for starches and flour; thus we see cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza, cauliflower french fries and mashed cauliflower as a mashed-potato stand-in. There’s even cauliflower gnocchi and cauliflower chowder. This versatile veggie has much more than good looks going for it. —Brian Kelley
POWER UP How nutritionally potent can a food be when it’s 92 percent water? (That’s even more than you and me.) Plenty, it turns out. A cup of subtly tasty raw cauliflower has just 25 calories and 30 milligrams of sodium. (Compare that with what else you might be snacking on!) With that you get 9 percent of your daily potassium requirement, 14 percent of the folate you need, 20 percent of the vitamin K and a whopping 77 percent of the vitamin C. (Usually people go for orange juice when struggling with a cold, but if you want to surprise people, choose cauliflower.) Cauliflower is a good source of
DID YOU KNOW? Store-bought white cauliflower can develop brown spots from oxidation once you get it home. But don’t pull up the trash can just yet! They won’t affect the flavor or nutritional value of this lovely veggie. BERGENMAG.COM
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