Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Cauliflower, white-headed cabbage: what we eat is neither a flower nor a leaf, but an inflorescence halted before flowering — thousands of aborted flower buds clustered into a compact mass. The most widely eaten cabbage in France, and also the most demanding to grow successfully, because achieving a perfect head requires consistently stable conditions.
Characteristics:
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White, compact head: with a mild flavor, it is the most popular of the cabbages.
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Demanding to grow: it requires consistency but rewards you generously.
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Fears heat: it prefers gentle sunlight and dislikes summer drought.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny, but partial shade in hot regions — excessive heat causes the head to split.
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Soil: deep, cool, humus-rich, and slightly clayey. It is the hungriest of the cabbages: a generous application of well-rotted compost is essential. Avoid growing it where a brassica has grown during the previous three years, because of clubroot.
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Method: sow in a nursery from March to April, 1 cm deep. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant when the plants reach 10 to 15 cm, spacing them 50 to 70 cm apart. Plant up to the first leaves and earth up around the base.
- Transplant in cloudy weather and water generously: difficult establishment permanently halts head formation.
Care advice:
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The critical point: keep the soil consistently moist. Cauliflower tolerates no sudden changes — water stress and it will produce a tiny head or bolt straight to flower. Mulch thickly and water regularly without waterlogging the soil.
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Blanching tip: as soon as the head appears, bend two or three large leaves over it, breaking them at the base. It will remain immaculate white instead of yellowing in the sun.
- An insect-proof mesh placed immediately after planting prevents cabbage white butterflies and cabbage flies.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest as soon as the head is full and still tight. Do not wait: when the florets begin to separate and develop seeds, the texture and flavor deteriorate very quickly.
- The leaves and peeled stalk can also be cooked — do not throw away half the plant.
Beneficial companion plants:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- A cauliflower allowed to bolt produces a huge yellow inflorescence that is extremely attractive to pollinators — if a head escapes you, let it flower rather than pulling it up.
- Its large foliage covers the soil and shelters ground beetles and beneficial insects.
Uses:
- Steamed, in a gratin, roasted whole in the oven, in a velouté, as couscous-style “rice,” or raw in a salad. The leaves can be cooked like Swiss chard.
Saving your own seeds:
Allow one head to bolt and then produce seed pods, which should be harvested when brown and dry. Beware: Brassica oleracea varieties cross very easily with one another (cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflowers): isolate your seed plant. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The French people’s favorite cabbage, to grow from open-pollinated seed.
