Eating in Season – Cauliflower and Sunchokes

Cauliflower is in season right now and we want to help you get more of it. Here are our tips on choosing, cooking and getting the most of this versatile vegetable.

How to select cauliflower: Select cauliflower that is firm and tightly packed and make sure that the heads are purely white with no brown spots.

How to prepare cauliflower: Steam, roast, sauté, or eat raw. Make sure not to overcook as many nutrients are lost in the cooking process.

Although white cauliflower is the most common and readily available, there are actually 4 types of cauliflower

White
The most common form of cauliflower available, white cauliflower is crisp and light and becomes sweeter and tastier when roasted or marinated.
Purple
Purple cauliflower has anthocyanins, similar to red cabbage and red wine. When marinated in a vinegar based solution, the cauliflower tastes
incredible and turns the dressing into a beautiful purplish color.
Orange
Orange cauliflower has 25 times the amount of Vitamin A as the other cauliflower varieties and tastes almost exactly like the white cauliflower variety.
Green
Green cauliflower is a cross between white cauliflower and broccoli and is also known as broccoflower. A variety of green cauliflower known as Romanesco is a spikier, cooler looking version of green cauliflower.

Nutritional benefits: Cauliflower is low in calories, full of Vitamin C (a natural antioxidant) and dietary fibers and contain phytochemicals
which may aid in blocking cancer growth.

Whenever there is an abundance of fresh produce, it is always a good time to try pickling.

Pickled Cauliflower Salad

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Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichoke, sunroot and earth apple are native to North America and were actually cultivated by the Native Americans years before the discovery of America. Sunchokes come from the sunflower family and were therefore called sunroot by Native Americans. There are many theories as to why they are called Jerusalem artichokes as they are not from Jerusalem and do not look like artichoke. One theory stipulates that sunchokes became a staple item in the diets of the early European settlers in America a.k.a. the ‘new Jerusalem’ thus naming the vegetable Jerusalem artichoke. They are long, round like a tube and taste like a sweeter, crunchier version of a potato. Like a potato, they are great baked, roasted and in soups and stews. Unlike a potato, sunchokes can be eaten in its raw state, and are
great additions to salads and stir fries.

Try them in this tasty salad.

Roasted Red Pepper and Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

As seen in the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine (Bitayavon – Winter 2011) – Subscribe Now