Cauliflower Walcheren Winter 5

The 'Walcheren' Winter 5 Cauliflower (in Latin, Brassica oleracea botrytis) is a variety of excellent quality, very hardy, that produces beautiful compact and white heads. This cauliflower is sown from May to June for a harvest from September to October.

With a beautiful immaculate white and even, in recent years, joyfully yellow, orange or purple, the Cauliflower is a flowering vegetable whose fleshy meristem is consumed. It belongs to the large family of Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae) and bears the Latin name Brassica oleracea botrytis. Sometimes called the Cabbage of Cyprus, the Cauliflower is a biennial vegetable plant originally from China.

Consumed for the first time in Germany only 300 years ago, this vegetable has made a special place in our kitchens because it lends itself to many preparations. It can be eaten raw in a salad or cooked, plain, in a gratin with béchamel, or accompanied by a curry sauce that complements its flavour. It is a low-calorie vegetable and rich in vitamin C.

There are many varieties of Cauliflowers, each corresponding to a distinct growing period that should be respected. Thus, by carefully choosing your seeds, you can have this vegetable all year round.

The Cauliflower is a demanding vegetable; it requires excellent basic fertilisation and regular moisture.

Harvest: The Cauliflower is harvested when its head is compacted by simply cutting it at ground level.

Storage: Cauliflower does not keep very well. It is preferable to consume it quickly after harvesting. It can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it after blanching it for 3 minutes in salted boiling water.

The gardener's little trick: The main enemy of cabbage, the Cabbage White (Pieris brassicae), is a pretty creamy white butterfly with small black spots that wakes up in April-May to wreak havoc all summer by devouring its leaves. While spraying a solution based on Bacillus Thuringiensis is an acceptable curative measure, we prefer, at our place, to opt for prevention by installing an insect-proof net tightly on market garden arches. These nets are easy to install and reusable to protect, for example, your carrot and leek crops.