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Charming Snow
- With the trade
dropping
Majestic, Charming Snow seized the
mantle as Fedco’s first early
cauliflower. Its short white stems
bear compact 1–2 lb. uniform round
firm white tight heads with fine
beads. Though seeded as late as July
8, these were already heading for
Donna Dyrek (Fedco’s trailer) by the
first of September.
Snow Crown
- Nothing comes close to Snow Crown
for the second-early slot. Makes
cauliflower a cinch to grow.
Dependable producer of uniform 6–7"
heads early summer through October.
Drought resistant. Some tendency for
pink heads in adverse conditions.
1975 All-America winner from Takii.
Graffiti
“The first time I’ve gotten goose
bumps seeing a vegetable…growing out
of the ground. The restaurant loved
it,” related Philip Marion of Snowy
River Farms in Jacksonville, OR. As
if aliens had landed in the
cauliflower patch, the brilliant,
almost psychedelic, purple of these
good-sized heads is decidedly
other-worldly. Much brighter purple
than Violet Queen, Graffiti boasts a
true cauliflower head on large
plants with dark green leaves.
Resists summer heat and performs
even in drought, but very slow to
head up in cool weather. Day-glo
florets make delightful crudités, a
delicious cooked vegetable or
colorful kimchi. The color fades to
bluish-purple when cooked, but can
be preserved by adding a tablespoon
of lemon juice to the cooking water.
Violet Queen
- About halfway between broccoli and
cauliflower, each plant sets one
purple head which doesn’t require
tying. No side shoots. A tasty
novelty for adding violet color to
salads and dips. Turns light green
when blanched.
Cassius
-
We don’t know if Cassius was named
after Roman general Caius Cassius
Longinus, prime mover in the
successful conspiracy against Julius
Caesar, Kentucky abolitionist
Cassius Marcellus Clay, who helped
convince President Lincoln to sign
the Emancipation Proclamation, or
boxer Muhammad Ali né Cassius
Marcellus Clay Jr, 3-time
heavyweight boxing champion
despite being jailed for
refusing to fight in the Vietnam
War. Regardless, Cassius is a real
knockout of a cauliflower. Fedco
have never before grown such
stunning heads, 7–8" across, dense
2–3 pounders, each ripening with
amazing uniformity, tight even in
the hot weather of mid-August.
Symphony
– These immense heads, up to a foot
across, look like they were injected
with BGH—that’s Brassica Growth
Hormone, for the uninitiated. They
were the classiest as well as the
largest cauliflowers Donna (Fedco’s
trailer) ever grew, as tight as they
were enormous, with no hollow stems.
She raved about their sweetness and
lack of brassica bite. Maybe we
should just credit superior
genetics. Donna started the seeds on
May 30, transplanted them on July 8
and harvested Symphony the 2nd
week of October 2007. Requiring a
long season, Symphony is for fall
harvest only. |
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