What Is Cauliflower?
Cauliflower, white cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts are all varieties of the same plant, Brassica oleracea. They have very different appearances and subtle differences in nutrition, but they can interbreed with each other to make many varieties of the same vegetable.
Cauliflowers themselves come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and color. There is the familiar white cauliflower but there are also purple and orange cauliflowers, as well as a green cauliflower sometimes marketed as Romanesco broccoli. In Great Britain a variety of broccoli with purple flower heads is sold as “purple cauliflower,” but it is not the purple cauliflower with the large florets known as curds.
What Are the Key Nutritional Benefits of Cauliflower?
Cauliflower, like other related cabbages, is a good source of:
• Carotenoids, plant chemicals related to beta-carotene, which the body can convert into vitamin A as needed.
• Glucosinolates, which protect against cancer in small doses, but act as goitrogens, interfering with the thyroid's ability to absorb iodine and make thyroid hormone in high doses.
• Indole-3-carbinol, which enhances DNA repair, and mitigates the carcinogenic effects of estrogen in tissues that are sensitive to it.
• Sulforaphanes, which have some cancer-fighting qualities.
All of these chemicals are leached out of cauliflower when it is boiled, but remain in the vegetable when it is eaten raw or cooked by other methods. Boiling cauliflower for 45 minutes or longer removes essentially all of these phytonutrients, but boiling cauliflower for 15 minutes of less has minimal effect. The sulforaphanes are only released when cauliflower is chewed; cauliflower purees don't provide them.
Some people just don't like the taste of cauliflower. This is due to the presence of a bitter plant chemical called sinigrin, which breaks down when the vegetable is roasted. Not everyone can taste sinigrin, but some people are extremely sensitive to it.
Purple cauliflower (which is purple because of a chance mutation in a single gene, not because of genetic modification in a lab) contains anthocyanin pigments that carry many of the same benefits of similar purple pigments in blueberries, blackberries, and plums.
Farmers have an unusual incentive to provide organically grown cauliflower. The more the plant is treated with the chemical fertilizer ammonia, after a certain point, the smaller the head. It is actually more profitable for the farmer to use little or no chemical fertilizer on most cauliflower crops.
What Health Issues Are Especially Responsive to Cauliflower?
There is good epidemiological evidence that eating any of the various forms of cabbage on a regular basis, including cauliflower but also any of its close relatives, reduces the risk of lung cancer in smokers, bladder cancer, and multiple myeloma. Cauliflower in particular is helpful with various conditions caused by inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and it helps lower cholesterol.
The thing to remember about cauliflower and other Cabbage Family vegetables is that more is not always better. It's not usually a good idea to eat more than 5 servings a week, especially if you eat your cauliflower and cabbage raw. More than that, and there is an increasing risk of getting too many of the sulforaphane compounds that are goitrogenic, that interfere with the thyroid's ability to absorb iodine. (Adding iodized salt to your food or taking iodine capsules won't offset the effects of the goitrogens.) Also, if you have gout, cauliflower is one of the foods that contains gout-inducing purines, although there are far fewer purines in cauliflower than there are in other foods that are problematic for gout, such as meat and legumes.
Where Does Cauliflower Fit in the Families of Vegetables?
Cauliflower doesn't just look like an especially brainy cabbage. It actually is a cabbage, in the very same species, Brassica oleracea, as cabbage, kale, and collards. This funny looking cabbage has been cultivated in Turkey for nearly 1500 years, and has been popular in France and England for nearly 400 years. There is also enormous production of cauliflower in modern China.
What Is the Best Way to Eat Cauliflower Raw?
Cauliflower is understandably popular on snack trays. Firm enough to dip, it is a crunchy accompaniment to carrot sticks, celery sticks, jicama, and radishes. But how to you select your cauliflower in the market and way you prepare raw cauliflower makes a difference in its nutritional value.
Selection
When buying cauliflower in the market, look for a compact, creamy-white (or bright orange or bright purple), clean curd. The florets should not be separated. If the cauliflower has spots or small flowers, or if its color is brownish or gray or anything other that a bright white, orange, or purple, depending on the variety.
Heads surrounded by many leaves are usually fresher. You will need to remove those leaves before you serve or cook the cauliflower. Size of the head is not an indicator of quality. Wash the cauliflower when you bring it home from the market, making sure it has drained and dried thoroughly before placing it in the coldest part of your refrigerator.
Storage
It is important to store cauliflower with some kind of barrier between it and other vegetables, especially melons. Cauliflowers have lots of nooks and crannies that could host bacteria or molds from the drip off other produce. If you store cauliflower in a plastic bag, make sure the bag has holes to allow air to circulate to keep the head dry. Even better, store your cauliflower in a paper bag.
Uncooked cauliflower should retain its flavor and nutrients in the refrigerator for at least a week. Pre-cut florets should be consumed within two days.
Tips for Preparation
Always cut cauliflower with a sharp knife. Dull knives spread bacteria, and crush the tissues of the vegetable so that juices and the minerals they contain leak out. Sharp knives actually cause the cauliflower to increase its antioxidant content to repair the wound.
Never mince or shred cauliflower unless you intend to marinate it, and if you do, use the vegetable the same day. The smaller the dice, the faster the vegetable will go bad.
What Is the Best Way to Use Cauliflower in Salads?
Cauliflower that has been grown in cold weather, especially during the winter, has a sweeter, nuttier flavor that is best for salads. Warmer-season cauliflower should be cooked.
Throughout much of Latin America, cauliflower is pickled in vinegar for up to a week, sometimes with carrots, pearl onions, and slices of sweet red peppers. Cauliflower can also be marinated in lemon juice and served with any combination of capers, dill, pitted black olives, pitted green olives, black pepper, salt, and olive oil. Eating cauliflower raw with vinegar slows down the passage of food from your stomach to the rest of your digestive tract and helps control blood sugar levels.
Looking for still more new ways to serve cauliflower in salads? Combine cauliflower with shaved or sliced fennel bulb, using the fronds as garnish. Serve raw cauliflower with cherry tomatoes cut in quarters and red pepper slices with lemon juice and oil, black pepper and salt. Add cauliflower along with carrot into traditional salads of lettuce and tomatoes. Try a paleo cauliflower salad made with raw cauliflower, raw broccoli, and (cooked) bacon and mayonnaise (we didn't say it was a low-calorie salad), with carrots, sweet red peppers, capers, anchovies, onion, black pepper, salt, and lemon juice as desired.
What Is the Best Way to Cook Cauliflower?
The sulfur compounds in cauliflower react with the iron in cast iron cookware to form brown spots. To prevent this, add a little lemon juice to the cooking liquid if you use iron cooking utensils.
Many Indian curries contain cauliflower. You can use a curry mix, add prepared curry sauce and yogurt, or make your own curry, but be sure the cauliflower is cooked until tender and allow to stand at least 10 minutes to absorb all the spice flavors.
Roast cauliflower to bring out smoky, caramel flavors. Break individual curds from the head and wash, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Coat with olive oil, salt, and black pepper and roast in a hot oven until the curds begin to show brown color on the edges from the caramelization. Garlic and Parmesan cheese add additional flavor to roasted cauliflower.
Cauliflower is also a great substitute for many high-carb foods:
Cauliflower makes a low-carb substitute for potatoes in mashed potatoes. To get a potato-like taste, it is essential to remove all the leaves before boiling the cauliflower. Any green in the cauliflower will impart the taste of cabbage to the mash. (One kitchen trick is to boil the cauliflower with an unshelled English walnut to absorb cabbage-y flavors.) Before ricing or mashing the cauliflower, be sure to drain it thoroughly, and then press out any excess water through a strainer or colander. Then add salt, butter, milk, and cream to taste. The cauliflower mashed potatoes can also be seasoned with rosemary, thyme, and garlic, and the consistency of the mash can be adjusted by the addition of one or two tablespoons of ricotta cheese.
Cauliflower can also be used as a low-carb substitute for rice. Process cauliflower in the food processor or with a grater until it takes on the appearance of grains of rice, making sure not to get any leaves into the mix, and then cook until just tender. The “cauliflower rice” can be seasoned with scallions, green onions, ginger, garlic, butter, pepper, chilies or chili peppers, black pepper, and/or salt as desired.
Combine cauliflower and crimini mushrooms and hazelnuts (about twice as much cauliflower as the other ingredients) to make a stuffing for your Thanksgiving turkey. Replace bread with cauliflower and use your regular seasonings.
What Are Some Ways to Make Cauliflower Juice More Interesting?
Cauliflower and cucumber juice is surprisingly refreshing drunk after a workout or during hot weather. Cauliflower and apple juice has a sweet taste that masks the drinks' cabbage-y origins.
How Do I Get Kids to Like Cauliflower?
Cauliflowers look a little like brains. Pointing this out to children may make them a great deal more, or a great deal less, interested in eating the vegetable. Or just disguise cauliflower as rice or mashed potatoes. Seasoned like potatoes, cauliflower might not even be noticed.
How Long Does Cauliflower Keep?
Nobody likes gray or black moldy patches on cauliflower. The secret for avoiding them is to make sure that the vegetable is stored as close to freezing as possible, in the coldest part of the refrigerator, in a bag or vegetable keeper that “breathes.” Storing cauliflower in cling film or plastic wrap is almost a guarantee it will mold in a week or sometimes less. If the container for the cauliflower is ventilated, head cauliflower should keep for about 3 weeks.
It's not common for cauliflower to be contaminated with E. coli. Other vegetables are much more likely to be problematic. When cauliflower does pick up pathogenic bacteria, it usually gets them from incompletely manures used as compost in organic field operations, and the bacteria persist on the leaves rather than on the curd itself. Just to be sure, don't eat the green leaves raw, and rinse the florets after removing them from the head so you can rinse both top and bottom.
Tips for Frugal Use of Cauliflower
Don't be afraid to freeze cauliflower you can't use in a week or less. Break the cauliflower into bite-sized florets, and blanch in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Shock the blanched florets in ice water, drain, allow to cool to room temperature, and place into freezer bags for storage in your freezer. Be sure to push air out of the bag before you seal it. Cauliflower you freeze yourself should stay good for up to 3 months.
Bibliography:
Aires A, Fernandes C, Carvalho R, Bennett RN, Saavedra MJ, Rosa EA. Seasonal effects on bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of six economically important brassica vegetables.Molecules. 2011 Aug 10; 16(8): 6816-32. doi: 10.3390/molecules16086816. PMID: 21832972.
Dhall RK, Sharma SR, Mahajan BV. Effect of packaging on storage life and quality of cauliflower stored at low temperature. J Food Sci Technol. 2010 Jan; 47(1): 132-5. doi: 10.1007/s13197-010-0009-1. Epub 2010 Feb 6. PMID: 23572616.
Engel E, Martin N, Issanchou S. Sensitivity to allyl isothiocyanate, dimethyl trisulfide, sinigrin, and cooked cauliflower consumption. Appetite. 2006 May; 46(3): 263-9. Epub 2006 Mar 20.
Kelemen LE, Cerhan JR, Lim U, et al. Vegetables, fruit, and antioxidant-related nutrients and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a National Cancer Institute-Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results population-based case-control study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jun; 83(6): 1401-10. 2006.
Lakhan SE, Kirchgessner A, Hofer M. Inflammatory mechanisms in ischemic stroke: therapeutic approaches. Journal of Translational Medicine 2009, 7: 97. 2009.
Larsson SC, Andersson SO, Johansson JE, Wolk A. Fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of bladder cancer: a prospective cohort study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Sep; 17(9): 2519-22. 2008.
Nettleton JA, Steffen LM, Mayer-Davis EJ, Jenny NS, Jiang R, Herrington DM, Jacobs DR Jr. Dietary patterns are associated with biochemical markers of inflammation and endothelial activation in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jun; 83(6): 1369-79. 2006.
Rungapamestry V, Duncan AJ, Fuller Z et al. Effect of cooking brassica vegetables on the subsequent hydrolysis and metabolic fate of glucosinolates. Proc Nutr Soc. 2007 Feb; 66(1): 69-81. 2007.
Steinbrecher A, Linseisen J. Dietary Intake of Individual Glucosinolates in Participants of the EPIC-Heidelberg Cohort Study. Ann Nutr Metab 2009; 54: 87-96. 2009.
Tang L, Zirpoli GR, Guru K, et al. Consumption of Raw Cruciferous Vegetables is Inversely Associated with Bladder Cancer Risk. 2007 Apr 15; 67(8): 3569-73. 2007.
Tang L, Zirpoli GR, Jayaprakash V, Reid ME, McCann SE, Nwogu CE, Zhang Y, Ambrosone CB, Moysich KB. Cruciferous vegetable intake is inversely associated with lung cancer risk among smokers: a case-control study. BMC Cancer 2010, 10: 162. 2010.