Cauliflower Flora Blanca - Brassica oleracea

The Cauliflower 'Flora Blanca' is an old variety renowned for its very white, dense and regular heads, well protected by enveloping foliage. It is suited for autumn and early winter harvests. This is a variety appreciated by organic gardeners for the reliability of its production, its good field performance and its ability to remain in the ground a little longer, or even to overwinter under light protection. In the kitchen, its crisp and fine heads are suitable for gratins, purées, pickles or freezing.

The cauliflower belongs to the Brassicaceae family. The species is Brassica oleracea var. botrytis. 'Flora Blanca' is part of the white-headed cauliflower group, it is an old Dutch selection variety, sometimes marketed in France under the name "Flora Blanca – Gloire d’automne". Its life cycle is biennial for seed production, but the plant is cultivated as an annual for head harvest.
The plant forms a stocky clump 50 to 70 cm high, with a spread of about 50 to 60 cm, with a short, thick stem bearing a broad collar of leaves. The foliage is abundant, deep green, slightly glaucous and undulate, sheathing the head well. The head (or "pomme") is medium to large in size, well domed, formed of very tight, fine inflorescences, of a pure white, characteristic of this variety which hardly yellows if the soil is cool and the head partially sheltered from light. Depending on conditions, it takes 90 to 130 days between planting and harvest, with a total cultivation time of 4 to 5 months from sowing.
If the head is not cut, it elongates into a ramified flower stem bearing clusters of small yellow flowers with four petals, hermaphroditic, pollinated mainly by insects (bees and other pollinators).

First consumed in Germany only 300 years ago, cauliflower has earned a prime place in our kitchens as it lends itself to many preparations. It can be eaten raw in salads, as an appetiser, or cooked, plain, in a gratin with cheese or accompanied by a curry sauce. It is a low-calorie vegetable rich in vitamin C.

Cauliflower is a demanding vegetable, requiring excellent base manuring and regular moisture.

Harvest: Cauliflower is harvested when its head is very compact by simply cutting it off at ground level.

Storage: Cauliflower does not store very well. It is best consumed soon after harvest. It keeps for a few days in the refrigerator. You can very well freeze it after blanching for 3 minutes in boiling salted water.

The gardener's tip: the cabbage's main enemy, the Large White butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is a pretty cream-white butterfly with small black spots that awakens from April-May to wreak havoc all summer by devouring its leaves. While spraying a solution based on Bacillus Thuringiensis is a curative measure, one can opt for prevention by installing, in a sealed manner on hoops, an insect-proof mesh. These meshes are easy to set up and reusable to protect, for example, your carrot and leek crops.