Monday, August 23, 2004

Purple Cauliflower

Purple Cauliflower



Hey bloggers! Have you ever eaten purple cauliflower? I came across this vegetable last week when my mum returned from Cameron's Higland with tones of fresh vegetables. Of course the one that caught my attention most was the purple cauliflower. Its purple! Can you believe it? So looks like now i can have a vegetable moto (lol). Well you never know.

What does it taste like? hmmm...i must say once you cook it, it taste much more cruchier than the usual white cauliflower. I went crazy over the vegetable, that i used a whole role of film snapping pictures of the cauliflower. So this is one of the pictures.

So is the purple colouring a result of genetical engineering? Nope! “Purple Cauliflower” resulted from the discovery of a purpled coloured spontaneous mutant plant in a cauliflower field in the late eighties, and years of dedicated classical breeding at the research station "Danefeld" in Denmark.

Purple Cauliflower thus has the potential to produce a curd of good quality without the usual cauliflower defects. Colour gets darker at high light levels, but is attractive even under low light conditions and is completely independent of temperature. The purple head can be used in various ways to add colour and taste to various cauliflower dishes. The taste is very mild in the raw product. In the UK market it is recognized as one of the best tasting cauliflowers on the market. Purple Cauliflower is also well suited to different methods of cooking and Dæhnfeldt has had some special recipes developed together with a Danish chef.

So is the purple colour a result of bruising? Nope! The purple colour is due to formation of anthocyanins also found in red cabbage and in red wine. The Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences has carried out analyses showing that Purple Cauliflower contains approximately 200 times more anthocyanin than a white cauliflower exhibiting "pinking" but with exactly the same substances. (gee...i sound smart!)

So you see, your not exactlly eating a coloured vegetable coloured with artificial colouring. Purple Cauliflower is healthy! Its good for you!!! hmmm. Maybe i should try making purple cauliflower juice... yummy (*yucky)... Lol....we will never know till we try it.