On Food and Cooking

stalks and flowers is arrested, so that the
immature flowering tissues proliferate and
accumulate into large masses. Based on recent
genetic and geographic analysis, it appears
that broccoli arose in Italy and in turn gave
rise to cauliflower, which was known in
Europe by the 16th century.
In the case of broccoli, extra flower-stalk
tissue develops, fuses into thick “spears,” and
then goes on to produce clusters of small
green flower buds. In cauliflower and its
interestingly angular, green variant,
romanesco, the stalk-production stage is
extended indefinitely and forms a dense mass
or “curd” of immature flowerstalk branches.
Because the curd is developmentally
immature, it remains relatively unfibrous and
rich in cell-wall pectins and hemicelluloses
(p. 265), and so can be pureed to a very fine,
creamy consistency (and if overcooked whole,
it readily turns to mush). To get as white a
cauliflower curd as possible, growers usually