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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost AT gilanet.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Orange Cauliflower Available in Markets
  • Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 01:54:42 -0600

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4202161,00.html

Orange Cauliflower Available in Markets


Monday June 14, 2004 6:31 AM

By MARK JOHNSON

Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Do not adjust your set. That cauliflower on your plate
really is orange. After its discovery in a Canadian marsh more than 30 years
ago, the brightly hued crucifer is finally hitting the U.S. market.

The cauliflower hybrid now being sold in garden catalogs was developed by
breeders at the New York State Agricultural Station in Geneva, part of
Cornell University.

Michael Dickson, the breeder who led its development, says orange cauliflower
has caught the attention of restaurant chefs because of its superior
appearance. The hybrid also has about 25 times more vitamin A than its pale
cousin, making it more appealing to health-conscious consumers.

Dickson says he expects the vegetable to do well.

``It's another variant farmers can grow and at this point it will probably
sell a little better because it's new and looks attractive,'' he said. ``The
color stays well after cooking too. I think it will be quite popular. We did
test marketing several years ago and it was quite well received.''

Dickson started developing the vegetable in 1981 after researchers from the
National Vegetable Research Center in England who were familiar with his work
forwarded him some seeds from the mutant plant, first found in the Bradford
Marsh north of Toronto in 1970.

Dickson said the mutant was smaller and not as flavorful as white
cauliflower, so it had to be crossbred with standard cauliflower. Development
was tricky, partly because cauliflower hadn't been developed as a hybrid
before.

``We had hybrid cabbage, but cauliflower is a different kettle of fish,''
said Dickson, who retired in 1995. ``If you don't have the right parents, you
don't necessarily get a nice color, you get a pale, pukey color.''

He worked on the cauliflower as a side project for years, publishing the
genetics of his work in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He followed that up
by distributing experimental samples to seed companies in 1992.

After further development by companies such as Stokes, the vegetable is
available now to commercial growers and home gardeners. Johnny's Selected
Seeds, based in Winslow, Maine, limited orders to 5,000 seeds this year and
sold out, said Steve Bellavia, a vegetable product manager.

``It's a very nice variety,'' Bellavia said. ``The sales have been good for
it. It has that nice orange color, and good growing characteristics. It grows
well, uniformly and it's easy to grow.''

Bellavia says cauliflower are often difficult to grow because of sensitivity
to water or heat stress, but the orange variety does well in poor conditions.

Laura Pedersen, who runs a 1,200 acre vegetable farm with her husband Rick in
Seneca Castle, 33 miles southeast of Rochester, grew the vegetable last year,
selling it in a grocery store chain and to customers in New York City. They
are growing it again this year.

Stores ``really liked it because it's a novelty, it's something different,''
she said. ``It's a real attractive display too.''

Seminis Vegetable Seeds expects to have its orange cauliflower seeds ready
for commercial sales by fall, said Gary Koppenjan, spokesman for the Oxnard,
Calif.-based company.

``Anytime when new things come out, people hesitate at first, but then people
start to look at it as a value-added product,'' said Cy Lee, a professor of
food chemistry at Cornell who determined the nutritional value of orange
cauliflower. ``It's a niche market for the consumer who likes to have some
variety.''

^---

On the Net:

Pedersen Farms: http://pedersenfarms.com

New York State Agricultural Station in Geneva: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/




  • [Market-farming] Orange Cauliflower Available in Markets, Tradingpost, 06/14/2004

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