Winter Harvest: Romanesco

One of my goals this winter was to grow more varieties of winter vegetables. The community garden enabled me to grow more than my usual lettuce crops. I expanded the garden to include kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and my personal favorite Romanesco. Ironically, the lettuce did terribly this year. The record rain fall resulted in a massive slug infestation. The kale and broccoli did wonderfully. They are great because you keep harvesting throughout the season. Cauliflower was a bust. The unusual cold resulted in a phenomena called “buttoning”. The cauliflower developed small, tiny inedible heads and since it only produces one head it was pretty useless.

My favorite though was the Romanesco. It is a cross between cauliflower and broccoli. It has a much milder flavor than cauliflower and it cooks faster than broccoli. It is also stunning to look at. The tiny flowers swirl in a gorgeous pattern. The only downside to this vegetable is that it only produces one head per a plant. This year I only grew three plants but I will gladly double that next winter.