Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Broccoli and
Cauliflower
Anyone can tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower, right? Broccoli is green;
cauliflower is white. Broccoli comes on long branching stems; cauliflower has a stalk so
short you can barely see it. Well, yes and no. The family tree is as tangled and confusing
as European royalty, and there's no Debrett's Peerage to help you sort things out. In fact,
so tangled is the lineage that scientists are still scrambling to determine exactly who is a
broccoli and who is a cauliflower.
Both broccoli and cauliflower are domesticated versions of a wild cabbage that grows in
coastal regions of Europe. As such, they share a common genus and species: Brassica ol-
eracea. Generally, broccoli (B. oleracea italica) is typified by its massive collections of im-
mature flower buds that appear atop one central stalk as well as several side shoots. Cauli-
flower (B. oleracea botrytis) is recognized by its short central stem and even bigger collec-
tion of what botanists describe as "aborted" flower buds - "aborted" because fewer than 10
percent of them will ever flower.
So far so good - until you begin to explore outside the United States or become curious
about any of the many plants that fall somewhere in between those two extremes. In Italy,
for example, the plant they call broccoli is much closer in appearance to what we call cauli-
flower. Certainly, it is green, but a much paler shade (there is even a white variant called
broccoli bianco), and its branch structure is short and squat. Indeed, the branching veget-
able we call broccoli is much closer to what the Italians call broccoletti, which is not to be
confused with the new American variety we call Broccolini.
And then there are all of the broccoli-cauliflower intermediary cousins. You may have
seen one called broccoflower. It has been tried repeatedly but never seems to catch on. This
is actually much closer in appearance to what the Italians call broccoli Calabrese, with a
pale green head made of tightly bunched buds. There is also the oddly shaped Romanesco,
with its buds bunched in tight cones, looking like a vegetable designed by Gaudi. Cauli-
flower has its share of oddities as well, including one with a purple head. So confusing is
it all that several years ago a team of British researchers who tried to sort it out determined
