Fractal Cabbage

Strange, beautiful, and currently at Stanley's (North and Elston) for $.99/lb.

They called it Romanescu Cauliflower
aka Romanescu Cabbage.
Supposedly prep and taste is same as with normal cauliflower,
no matter how extraordinary the outward appearance.

Wish we had kids so I could freak them out with this!

Very trippy!!! "Fractal" captures it perfectly.

It's beautiful. And yes, very fractal looking. How odd.

Johnny's Seeds lists this as Romanesco under cauliflower although some seed companies classify it as a broccoli. Johnny's notes that is best planted in summer for fall harvest and refers to a mild, nutty taste.

I first saw pics of this stuff on boingboing.com about a year ago, and it's been my background pic ever since. Natural fractals are more than cool.

I picked up one of these beauties at the Logan Sq Farmers Market, brought it home, and googled 'romanesco cauliflower' for interesting recipes. Many, many links to the same recipe/video for pasta with fractal cauliflower.

http://www.academiabarilla.com/recipes/ ... lower.aspx

The cauliflower pairs really well with the anchovy/garlic sauce.

I'm reviving this old thread because I love this stuff. Has anyone seen any this year yet?

Hi,

Has anyone seen romanesco broccoli/cauliflower in a market recently (preferably north burbs). I am giving a presentation on fractal geometry in my daughter's class and would love to bring some with me.

thanks
eric

They have a frozen cauliflower/romanesco mix at Trader Joe's. It comes with some sort of garlic sauce. Sadly, it is not very tasty. It is mushy and bland. I ate a lot of romanesco in Switzerland where it was quite common.
LO

Hi- Stover's who come to the Evanston market, and several other markets, sell it in the fall. I think they charge around $4 a head for it. I have never tried it. Unfortunately, I don't believe that they go to any winter markets, but I could be wrong. They also sell the purple broccoli.

Your best place to find it this week, is probably a produce place such as Marketplace on Oakton or Jerry's. Hope this helps, Nancy

I've bought it a couple of times at Garden Fresh.