THIS IS ANOTHER ARTICLE IN MY SERIES ON GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR ORGANIC BUCK AND SAVING FOOD WASTE. THIS ARTICLE IS A TEASER TO INTEREST YOU TO TAKE MY FORTHCOMING CLASS “FOOD QUALITY MATTERS- HOW TO GET MORE BANG FOR YOUR ORGANIC BUCK.”
I am rolling the class information out on Monday. You can find it on any of my own Facebook pages and on my blog on my website.
Cauliflower, like broccoli “has a promising anticancer agent, sulforaphane, which also helps protect your brain, your eyesight, reduces nasal allergy inflammation, helps manage type 2 diabetes, and has recently been found to successfully help treat autism.” According to Dr. Michael Gregor, in his groundbreaking book “How Not to Die”. This is because of the “gift” in cruciferous vegetables called sulforaphane.
Cooking and eating the cauliflower greens and stems gives you an additional serving of vegetables for a different meal the next night.
To start off, buy organic cauliflower. Although cauliflower is not on EWG.org’s Dirty Dozen list, until this year, it was on the Clean 15 and it has fallen off that designation. Cauliflower has been found to now have 15 pesticide residues on it, of which 5 are hormone disruptors, 6 are neurotoxins and1 is a developmental or reproductive toxin
In addition, 9 of the pesticides sprayed on our cauliflower are killing our honeybees and butterflies. No pollinators, no food.
Since I am recommending that you eat the stems as well as the florets, you don’t want to be eating poison with every bite, so buying organic is important. I am also recommending that you eat the greens that envelope the cauliflower head because they are also packed with gifts and nutrition that are great for your body and your health.
So this is the process…..
When you are ready to cook the vegetable, separate the florets and dry them with a paper towel.
This next step is key; set it out to dry. Waiting 40 minutes total before cooking your cruciferous vegetables after cutting it (which works for the entire cruciferous family, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and bok choy) is referred to as “hack and hold” by Dr. Michael Gregor. By letting the vegetable rest for 40 minutes, the sulforaphane can finish its process of activating and mixing with mirosynase enzyme, so that all its health saving aspects are fully realized. Now no matter how you prepare the cauliflower, won’t change its health-giving qualities. My hubby and I have also discovered that this gives the vegetable a milder more delectable taste.
You need to do one more step before you prepare it which will kill the bacteria and the worms on the plant. You can either soak it in a bowl with a little bit of white vinegar and filtered water. The florets are already separated so put them in the water and let them soak for 10 minutes. Put a plate on top to keep the florets under the water solution.
Then pat dry the cauliflower with a paper towel.
Or use the second method to kill the bacteria and bug/worms is after you wait for 40 minutes. You can blanch the florets ensuring that all the bacteria and worms/bugs are killed. If you blanch the vegetable, boil water until it is really rolling, and throw the florets into the water. Turn the stove off, put a lid on, and let the vegetable sit in the boiling water for 5 minutes.
After you do either process, wash the cauliflower under cold tap water. I have a small vegetable brush, and I brush the florets and the utilize the vegetable from there to make my dish. From here you can make soup from it, you can add butter and eat as is, you can rice it. You can even make amazing smashed cauliflower with it that rivals smashed potatoes.
Cauliflower is super versatile.
These are cauliflower rice possibilities.
or
I add Greek black olives to my Greek version., and green onions.
It will take on any flavor. I have a fried rice recipe that I want to try using cauliflower, so that’s next.
You can even make hummus with it.
I have made tabouleh using cauliflower rice.
You can even make steaks out of slices of the cauliflower and slather on barbeque sauce. Bake them until tender.
In my class I discuss the vitamins and minerals in cauliflower, the phytonutrients in each color of cauliflower, and where to buy the different varieties of it, how to pick it, how to store it and how to pick out the very best specimen. I even note whether you can freeze it. And I share how long its longevity is.
But what I really want to discuss today is how not to waste any part of the head, which means, DON” T THROW THE GREENS AWAY, they too have gifts and value, and give your family another meals worth of vegetables.
Save the leaves, the core, and the stem and chop it all into 1” pieces. Wash and soak the greens the same way that you are preparing the florets. This kills any bacteria and any worms or bugs hiding on the plant. Once they soak in white vinegar and water, rinse them well and you are ready to use them.
This is a fabulous recipe that I just tried that was out of this world.
You can also roast the greens and stems like Kale chips and they are delicious. I make them with powdered organic garlic, onion and lemon juice, add olive oil and lay them out on unbleached parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and crisp them in a slow oven.
You can make cauliflower leaf soup.
You can throw the leaves into stir fry
You can make pesto with them, a good olive oil, Always minced garlic into the pesto and a nut- . I used walnuts.
You can steam them and make a wilted greens salad with them, with organic bacon, apple cider vinegar salad dressing.
The point is, get inventive and don’t waste them. They are fabulous on their own and they are loaded with nutrition
Enjoy.
Monday, you can read all about my class in my blog or on my Facebook pages. Cherylmhealthmuse and Cheryl Meyer. Its called Food Quality Matters, How to Get the Most From Your Organic Buck. The information that I will share in this class is priceless.