Purple Cauliflower

Littletree’s favourite vegetable at the moment is raw cauliflower, and one of her favourite colours is purple, so when I was at the supermarket this week and I saw a purple cauliflower, I thought: ooooh Littletree will think that is awesome!

It did cross my mind that it might be some sort of weird coloured or genetically modified icky vegetable, but I figured it would be cool to bring it home anyway, at least for the interest factor.

Littletree was pretty amazed

And a quick googling led us to learning that they’re not dyed or genetically modified in any way, but a hybrid - which may possibly have more nutrients because of the purple colouring.

Awesome! Which fits in perfectly with what we started learning about a few weeks ago – genetics, the studies of Mendel and selective breeding. We’ve been talking about recessive genes and genetic disorders, and how that relates to our every day life; such as how we got from wolves to dogs as various as Chihuahuas to Great Danes; and how we get so many varieties of vegetables; blue eyes vs. brown, etc. Littletree is particularly curious about being a redhead and how those recessive genes work.

Littletree has been having a recent resurgence in playing with a doll that was her favourite since she was about 18 months old – she used to carry Sigalit everywhere, even carrying her in a sling, but she kind of grew out of playing with her till recently.

Lately, Littletree has taken to calling Sigalit her daughter, and I often have to “babysit”, being the grandmother. Littletree pointed out that since Sigalit has purple hair, it must be from a recessive gene, as no one else in the family does!

But back to the cauliflower, apparently it tastes exactly the same as a regular cauli. Yum!