Dear Cauliflower…
Dear virtual friend,
I admit, it's been more than a week. I've often thought during these weeks about what I wanted to share with you on this blog, but I simply haven't had the time to sit down and write. Life is so hectic, fast-paced, and sometimes, I won't hide it from you, dear reader, I struggle to follow seasonality myself.
However, I feel very fortunate because I've started a new project here in Amsterdam. In collaboration with an elementary school where I've been teaching cooking classes to children for over two years, and the "school tuin," the Dutch name for these beautiful gardens that are filled with vegetables together with the schoolchildren during a weekly appointment from March to September. Thanks to this project, I can dedicate myself once a week to a magical piece of land where I can cultivate various vegetables, herbs, and flowers with the children, which I can later use during my cooking classes at school.
Touching the soil every week gives me an indescribable sense of peace; it makes me feel so connected and synchronized with nature. Seeing the children start to get their hands dirty with soil, understanding the different moments of sowing, and appreciating the small sprouts when they timidly emerge from the ground fills my eyes with joy. And it makes me appreciate even more how silently Mother Nature constantly works.
At the moment, I'm learning, thanks to many great books, blog posts, and advice from my beloved grandmother, what needs to be planted according to the season, and why it's so important to follow the lunar phases, the different seasons, temperatures, and types of soil. I've bought many seeds, and starting next week, I'll begin sowing in the seedbed. And while I was filling my online cart the other day, I came across my dear friend, the cauliflower.
You thought I had forgotten what the main theme of this post was, didn't you? But no, I simply like to take long detours and get lost in telling stories.
So, I found cauliflower seeds, and I immediately started reading intensively in one of my books all about growing cauliflower, and not only that, its origin and seasonality! I was surprised by how delicate and difficult it is to grow, and especially by how long our friend cauliflower has been around.
Because yes, cauliflower is not a young vegetable; in fact, already in the times of the Greeks and Romans, it was often used even raw, and its origins seem to come from Asia Minor, that is, the Middle East.
Thanks to its high vitamin C content, in the 18th century, it was a very important ally during long sea voyages, helping to defeat scurvy (a disease that comes from the lack of consumption of fresh products). In short, everyone talks about the famous orange and its high vitamin C content, but I don't often hear about dear old wise cauliflower. Did you know that, dear reader?
Besides being a concentrate of health, cauliflower enjoys a very extended seasonality. In fact, it can be found from October to April, which I find to be a genius move by Mother Nature. Vitamin C helps against ailments, and look, during the colder months, cauliflower is always present to help us not get sick.
But how can we cook this cauliflower?! Because yes, I've often heard that when cauliflower is cooked, it releases a bad smell, and it's true. Cabbages, in general, are rich in sulfur, and from my experience, I can tell you that children, in particular, really don't like this detail about cauliflower. And if we start off badly with the smell, unfortunately, even if cauliflower often has a neutral taste for children, the first impression remains.
However, there's a trick to counteract the smell: if you decide to boil it, add half a (organic) lemon, and you'll see that the smell will disappear.
I even like cauliflower in cakes! Yes, you read that right; sometimes I mix it with other ingredients and make a plumcake. It's very versatile in the kitchen, from roasted cauliflower steak in the oven, as a component for salads, in soups, or even in desserts. With the children, I also have a lot of fun cleaning them and detaching all the florets, which look like little trees.
In short, this cauliflower is a wonder in every way.
I hope that if you've made it to the end of this post, my dear reader, you've been inspired to go to the (super)market to buy a cauliflower. It doesn't matter if you have children or not; cauliflower loves everyone the same way! Just try not to eat one every day, because otherwise your stomach might (rightfully) protest.
Let me know if you enjoyed this post, and what you think about cauliflower!
