Romanesco cabbage is the result of crossing broccoli and cauliflower. This is a vegetable of a delicate light green color with dense inflorescences that look like pyramids, twisting in a spiral.
In Italy, Romanesco cabbage is called broccoli romanesco, in France - romaine cabbage, and in Germany - pyramidal cauliflower.
Romanesco cabbage is rich in dietary fiber. In addition, it contains a lot of vitamin C (strengthens the walls of blood vessels) and vitamin K (responsible for blood clotting).
Podium. Vitamin C champion
1. Romanesco cabbage
Contains 12 mg per 100 g.
2. Broccoli
Contains 8 mg per 100 g.
3. Cauliflower
Contains 4 mg per 100 g.
How to choose Romanesco cabbage?
Choose a strong head of cabbage of a delicate light green color.
How to store Romanesco cabbage?
1. Place fresh Romanesco cabbage in the refrigerator and store for no more than 3 days.
2. Chop the cabbage and freeze for future use. In this form, this product can be stored for about a year.
Cabbage dishes -
1. Baked -
Cabbage "Romanescu" - 400 g
Young peas (I have fresh frozen, from homemade summer preparations) - 200 g
for the sauce:
Cream 10-15% - 200 ml
Butter - 50g for the sauce and 20g for greasing the pan.
Hard cheese - 150 g (I used Parmesan and Edam)
flour - 1 tbsp
salt, pepper to taste
ground nutmeg - a pinch
Using a sharp knife, separate the cabbage into florets and boil in salted water for 5 minutes.
Grease a mold with small sides with butter and place the cabbage and peas there.
Prepare the sauce: Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add flour, mix everything thoroughly, add cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Stir until the mixture begins to thicken.
At the end add grated cheese. Stir until smooth.
Pour the prepared sauce over the cabbage and peas and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 160-180 degrees.
Serve the dish warm.
2.Farfalle with romanesca cabbage and young zucchini.
1. Let any pasta cook. Better are curly ones (penne, fisulli or, like mine, farfalle).
2. Throw Romanesca cabbage, disassembled into inflorescences, into almost boiling salted water. Cook for about five minutes.
3. Fry the chopped garlic and leeks in a small amount of olive oil. Not for long.
4. Add diced zucchini.
5. Drain the water from the cabbage and add it to the zucchini. Fry for 3-5 minutes. Then add 11% cream.
6. By this time the pasta should be cooked. Place them in a frying pan, salt and pepper to taste and simmer with vegetables for three minutes.
Serve with grated Parmesan and chopped tomatoes.
Romanesca cabbage can be fried, eaten boiled, added to soups, casseroles and stews. It is important to know that only inflorescences are used for culinary purposes; the leaves are not suitable for this.
1. Find your own unique recipe for the familiar borscht - add romanesca cabbage to it, and an everyday dish will turn into a festive one.
2. This cabbage goes well with sour cream, so you can stew the romanesca cabbage, add sour cream and spices to taste.
3. By blending corn, romanesca cabbage, and carrots boiled in vegetable (or chicken) broth, you will get a delicious cream soup to which you can add cream.
4. Sauté red bell pepper, romanesca cabbage, green beans and mushrooms in olive oil and get a very tasty and colorful dish.
Pearl, Emerald Cup, Amphora F1
Romanesco is known not only for its external distinctive features, but also for its useful qualities. This culture, due to the large amount of vitamins in its composition, is a dietary, easily digestible product and is considered a wonderful beauty product.
Moreover, this cabbage contains much more carotene, trace elements and antioxidants compared to other cabbage varieties. It contains rare minerals such as fluorine and selenium. Romanesco is a source of folic acid. That is why it is recommended to add it to the menu during pregnancy.
Despite the large number of positive qualities of this cabbage, there are also some negative properties that you need to know so as not to harm your body.
Due to the fact that this cabbage contains a large amount of fiber, it should not be consumed by people suffering from increased gas formation and bloating.
You should not combine Romanesco cabbage with mushrooms, legumes and fatty meat, as these products will be difficult to digest.
Growing
Romanesco cabbage can be grow by seedlings or seeds. For the south of Russia, the seedless method may be suitable, but in other regions it is better to grow seedlings.
Seeds are sown in May in a moderately moist hole to a depth of about 2 cm. The first shoots can be seen after 2-3 weeks.
For seedlings seeds need to be sown in the second half of April. Until the first sprouts appear, the room temperature must be maintained at no higher than 20°C. And with the appearance of seedlings, after 3-4 weeks, it must be reduced to +10°C during the day and to +8°C at night. 
Young seedlings should be watered on time, preventing the soil from drying out, and maintaining moderate lighting, this will help avoid rapid stretching of the stems. Following these rules will help you get healthy and strong seedlings.
Stronger and matured seedlings are planted in a permanent place only after the threat of frost has passed. When planting, a distance of 60 cm * 60 cm should be left between plants and rows. 
Growing Romanesco cabbage is not entirely easy. Unlike other varieties, this cabbage is very whimsical and requires compliance with all growing rules. Otherwise, her heads simply won’t tie.
When planting Romanesco cabbage, it is better to choose alkaline soil, as it will die in acidic soils. Immediately before planting, the soil should be prepared. To do this, lime or wood ash (300 grams per 1 sq.m.) is added to the soil.
Romanesco cabbage will grow well if planted in areas where tomatoes, legumes, onions, and potatoes were previously grown. It should not be planted after turnips, radishes and radishes.
You can grow Romanesco in the same place for up to 3 years. It is recommended to replant in this place no earlier than 4-5 years have passed. 
Caring for this cabbage is quite simple and consists of timely watering the plants, preventing the soil from drying out or stagnating moisture, hilling the beds, weeding from weeds and checking for insects.
Caring for Romanesco
Romanesco cabbage preferably feed 3 times. Fertilizing must be applied correctly, since late or heavy feeding may cause the absence of heads, and in their place there will be only dense growths of cabbage leaves.
For the first time, fertilizing must be applied 7-10 days after planting the seedlings. As a top dressing, use 0.5 liters of mullein or bird droppings, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of complex fertilizers and all this is diluted in 10 liters of water.
The second time the cabbage is fed 15-20 days after the first feeding. To do this, stir 30 grams in 10 liters of water. ammonium nitrate, 2 gr. potassium chloride, 40 gr. superphosphate and 2 gr. boric acid.
The last time Romanesco cabbage is fed is during the period when its heads begin to form. For 10 liters of water take 0.5 liters of mullein or bird droppings, 30 grams. superphosphate, 30 gr. ammonium nitrate and 20 gr. potassium chloride. 
When to collect
Harvesting occurs around October, by which time the Romanesco cabbage has finally formed tight pyramidal inflorescences. Do not delay the collection of ripe heads, as the process of rotting or drying out may begin. The most suitable time for harvesting is in the morning, before the plant warms up under the sun's rays.
The harvested crop is stored in the refrigerator for about 7 days, then it loses its nutrients and begins to deteriorate.
Romanesco can also be frozen for the winter, and it will not lose its beneficial properties at all.
Recipes - how to cook Romanesco
You can prepare Romanesco cabbage in the same way as cauliflower - bake it, add it to soups, or simply fry it in oil. Its fruits are not bitter, unlike broccoli. 
Romanesco cabbage soup
Ingredients: 450 gr. chicken fillet, 300 gr. broccoli cabbage, 300 gr. Romanesco cabbage, 1 onion, 2 tbsp. spoons 10% cream or milk, 1 tbsp. spoon of butter, pepper, salt.
The chicken breast must be boiled and cut into strips. Romanesco cabbage is steamed.
Add finely chopped onion and broccoli to the prepared chicken broth and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Then the broth with broccoli is whipped, chopped meat and boiled Romanesco cabbage are added.
Everything must be mixed well and, if desired, seasoned with butter and cream.
Italian frittata with Romanesco cabbage and broccoli
Ingredients: 150 gr. Romanesco cabbage, 50 gr. broccoli, 100 gr. hard cheese, 50 gr. cream 10%, 2 pcs. eggs, 1/2 carrots, 1/2 onions, salt, pepper.
The cabbage must be disassembled into small inflorescences and boiled in salted water for about 5-7 minutes. Grate carrots and onions on a medium grater and fry in hot oil. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with cream.
Place carrots and onions in a baking dish, add cabbage and pour in a mixture of eggs and cream. You can sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake for at least 30 minutes at 180°C.
Stuffed zucchini with Romanesco cabbage
The recipe is for 2-3 medium zucchini, 450 g. chicken fillet, 1 carrot, 1 small head of Romanesco cabbage, 1 onion.
For the sauce: 2 tbsp. spoons of sour cream or yogurt, dill.
Chicken meat and carrots must be minced in a meat grinder. The zucchini is cut into rings and the middle is cut out. Zucchini rings are filled with minced meat and a Romanesco cabbage inflorescence is placed in the center of each.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees. The top of the baking sheet can be covered with a sheet of foil.
Probably many have heard about cabbage, which is called coral cabbage. It is a hybrid of cauliflower and broccoli. This type of cabbage is also called Romanesco. The appearance of this cabbage corresponds to its romantic name.
The inflorescences look like corals. Hence the name – coral. Like any vegetable, this cabbage is good for our health. It contains a lot of vitamins and nutrients.
It is even recommended to include Romanesco cabbage in a child’s menu. It often happens that it is difficult to force a child to eat something. But looking at this vegetable, which has an amazing shape, the child himself will express a desire to try it and quickly put it in his mouth. You can prepare many delicious and very healthy dishes from this type of cabbage. It is often added to salads as a decoration. And when preparing a first course, thanks to its original shape, it will be an ideal addition.
This was the first time I saw this type of cabbage at the market. It took me a long time to decide whether to take it or not. But, nevertheless, my curiosity and desire to cook something original took over and, bringing this vegetable home, I began to look for what could be cooked from it.
I came across a recipe for romanesco cabbage soup. I decided to treat myself to this original dish. I liked it. Now I am sharing this recipe with you. 
So, we prepare the necessary products according to the list:
a couple of eggs
about 300 g coral cabbage,
one small carrot
three to four medium-sized potatoes,
100 grams of green onions,
100 g sour cream of any fat content,
one and a half liters of chicken broth,
about 200 g chicken fillet,
a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil,
salt, pepper and herbs to taste.
Now we begin to prepare a delicious soup with romanesco cabbage. 
1. Thoroughly wash the chicken fillet, cut into small pieces and cook over medium heat until tender. When the water boils, don’t forget to drain it. Then add water again and continue to cook. 
2. Chop the carrots finely. For this I use a special shredding device. The carrots turn out thin and long. Finely chop the green onions. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the onions and carrots in it for about five minutes. 
3. Grate the peeled potatoes on a coarse grater. 
4. When the fillet is ready, add grated potatoes, fried potatoes and cabbage to the pan, having previously disassembled it into inflorescences and washed them thoroughly. Gently mix everything and cook until the cabbage is ready, remembering to skim off the foam. 
5. Boil the eggs for five to seven minutes. Then separate the yolks from the whites. Place the yolks and sour cream in a bowl and mix everything thoroughly until smooth. 
6. Pepper the finished soup, add salt to taste and sprinkle with chopped herbs. 
7. When serving, first put a piece of egg white on a plate, then pour in the soup and put the prepared sour cream dressing in it. Decorate with sprigs of greenery and serve. I wish everyone a bon appetit!
Buy cabbage fresh and of good quality. There should be no black spots on the inflorescences. Externally they are dense with a greenish color. Before cooking cabbage, rinse it under running water. Starting at the base, separate the florets from the head. The larger the cabbage itself, the larger the inflorescences will be.
Boil enough water in a saucepan with a lemon ring. Place cabbage in boiling water. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes after it starts boiling. Accordingly, the smaller the inflorescences, the less time it will take to boil.
Drain in a colander and rinse with cool water. Dry with paper towels.
Now it's time to prepare the sauce. In a convenient deep bowl, mix grainy mustard, oil and citrus juice.
Peel the daikon, rinse the root vegetable and dry. Cut into thin strips, as in the photo. Add to cabbage.
Use bell peppers of any color and variety. Remove the seeds and cut the pulp into strips. Add to other ingredients.
Cut the washed tomato into arbitrary small pieces and add to the salad bowl.
For the salad, use dill, parsley, basil or celery. This recipe uses dill sprigs. Rinse them and chop them finely. Add to salad bowl.
Add salt, season with ground black pepper and pour in the prepared dressing. Stir.
The salad is ready. Serve immediately after cooking, as over time it loses its taste.
Bon appetit!
