Romanesco
Brassica oleracea · Brassica
Top 10 pairings
Romanesco is a striking chartreuse, lime-green brassica whose head is a hypnotic natural fractal — a logarithmic spiral of pointed cones, each cone itself built of smaller self-similar cones. An Italian heirloom usually grouped with cauliflower, it is firmer and crunchier than ordinary cauliflower and noticeably nuttier, milder and sweeter than either cauliflower or broccoli, with a clean, faintly grassy brassica note rather than a strong sulfurous one.
Picking a good onedrag
Tight white curdRicey, speckled, sulfurous
Trimmed and tightEveryday bestThe standard shop head: roast, steam, rice or purée.
CurdIvory, or a faint green cast, still tight
HeftFirm and dense, no give
Stalk and leavesLeaves trimmed short, cut face drying pale
SmellFaintly green and sweet
These cues are Cauliflower's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
39%
Edible part
588 g · leaves, core and stalk out
1508 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 8× longer than the counter.
95–98%
Humidity
Vented, kept dry
Airflow