Cauliflower
Brassica oleracea botrytis
A cultivated brassica grown for its curd — a dense, domed mass of arrested flower buds, usually white, held inside a rosette of thick grey-green leaves that shade it from the light. Most UK plants are annual or biennial and are cut whole while the curd is still tight. Eaten raw, roasted, pickled or made into soup, with the outer leaves and stalk equally usable.
Not a wild plant in Britain or Ireland; found in allotments, kitchen gardens and field-scale vegetable holdings, on firm, limed, well-manured ground in full sun. The wild ancestor of the species grows on southern and western sea cliffs, but cauliflower itself does not persist outside cultivation.
No toxic parts, and edible raw or cooked. Large quantities raw commonly cause wind and bloating, and the goitrogens found across the brassicas are a reason for anyone managing a thyroid condition to take advice. Discard curds that have browned and softened at the centre.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Curd
A single dense dome of tightly packed, unopened flower buds, cream to chalk-white where outer leaves have shaded it. Purple, lime-green and spiralled Romanesco forms exist and are the same vegetable; unlike calabrese, the head is one solid mass rather than a branched cluster of separate green florets.
Outer leaves
Long, waxy, blue-grey leaves with stout pale midribs, curving up and inward to wrap the developing curd. They are thicker and more upright than cabbage leaves and never form a solid heart of their own.
Bolting curd
Left too long, or checked by drought or heat, the curd loses its smooth surface and separates into stalked buds that open yellow. Still edible at this stage, and best used quickly as sprouting shoots rather than cut as a head.
Root and stem base
A single thick taproot with fibrous side roots below a short, solid stem. Swollen, distorted, club-shaped roots on a stunted plant indicate clubroot, which makes the ground unsuitable for other brassicas for years.
Updated 2026-08-08T06:53:03.259Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Vegetable