Cauliflower

Broccoli and cauliflower are not the only vegetables eaten for their flower structures. Globe artichokes are also harvested before their flowers open.

A cauliflower's head forms when developing flower buds repeatedly produce new stems instead of completing their transformation into flowers. Researchers explained this unusual growth process in a study published in Science in 2021.

Cauliflower, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cabbage are not merely related vegetables: they are cultivated forms of the same species, Brassica oleracea.

The name cauliflower comes from the Italian cavolfiore, meaning "cabbage flower."

The compact head of a cauliflower is called a curd. It consists of immature flower structures and fleshy stalks.

Cauliflowers also come in purple, orange and green varieties. Purple varieties contain anthocyanin pigments, while orange ones accumulate beta-carotene.

To keep white cauliflower heads pale, growers may loosely tie the surrounding leaves over them to exclude sunlight. This is called "blanching" although it involves no cooking; self-blanching varieties provide their own leafy shade.

Romanesco cauliflower has pointed florets that repeat the shape of the whole head on a smaller scale, creating a striking natural example of a fractal pattern.

Unlike broccoli, which can produce extra side shoots after its main head is cut, a cauliflower plant normally provides just one harvestable head.

In 2024, China and India together accounted for about 73% of world production in the combined cauliflowers and broccoli category reported by FAOSTAT. 

Farmers have reported hearing a faint "cauliflower creak" during rapid growth, attributed to florets pressing and rubbing against one another.

Cauliflower can have a gruesome second career in sound effects: snapping it is one technique Foley artists use to imitate breaking bones.

Guinness World Records lists the heaviest cauliflower as a 27.48 kg (60 lb 9.3 oz) specimen grown by Peter Glazebrook of Halam, Nottinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. It was weighed on April 21, 2014.