            Recipes > Ingredient Archive > Cauliflower 
Organic cauliflower is widely available year-round. When you choose organic, you know it’s been grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, using sustainable farming methods that protect the environment and help keep pesticides out of our food. And we think organic veggies taste better, too! 
• Baked Crumbed Cauliflower Cousin to broccoli, cauliflower is the most elegant member of the cabbage family — “cabbage with a college education,” as Mark Twain famously remarked. No one knows for sure where it originated, but by the Middle Ages it was widely cultivated in the Arab world, and it arrived in Europe in the early 17th century. A relative newcomer to the New World, cauliflower wasn’t commercially cultivated in the US until the 1920s. Cauliflower is a gorgeous vegetable. Rounded and compact, its dense, milky florets are wreathed in pale green leaves, which hug the head to shield it from the sun. The leaves prevent the development of chlorophyll, which would cause it to turn green.
Green cauliflower comes in 2 hybrid varieties: broccoflower and Romanesco. Broccoflower has the flavor nuances of broccoli and is sweeter and milder than white cauliflower. Romanesco (also called Romanesca or “Roman cauliflower”) has a slightly different shape than its brethren: The florets form individual spirals that resemble small cones. Like broccoflower, Romanesco has a mild flavor and soft texture when cooked. Both green hybrids retain their lovely hue when cooked and can be used in any recipe that calls for cauliflower. Orange cauliflower, also called “Cheddar cauliflower,” gets is striking color from beta-carotene. This variety tastes very similar to common white cauliflower, but it carries a bonus of 25 times more vitamin A than the white variety. Purple cauliflower is also very dramatic looking, but it can turn green or gray if overcooked; to preserve its bright color, serve it raw or steam it lightly. It has a softer texture than white cauliflower and a mild flavor similar to broccoli.
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You may have noticed, however, that cauliflower is no longer exclusively white — and cooking with it has never been more fun! Choosing cauliflower today is like selecting a paint color, with varieties ranging from lime green to violet. Having a choice of beautiful hues makes cauliflower even more enticing and dresses up your vegetable dishes.