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Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:58 am
by vivienz
...sort of. I read in an RHS book that instead of cutting the whole head when it's ready, you can just snap off as many spears as you need and let the rest grow. Has anyone tried this?

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:41 pm
by Westi
Interesting! I've not heard or tried it, but then again the specimens I grow are not that great! Need a club root resistant variety, but I'm sure it will come as getting more & more varieties. I strongly recommend the club root resistant Monclano Calabrese. Huge heads well over a foot wide! Shame they are all F1 as they are still a bit expensive to buy.

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:28 pm
by vivienz
Seriously?! A foot wide? Good grief! That's like over a week's broccoli supply in one go!
I've sown some romanesco so, of all goes well, I might try the cut and come again method, but it's easy to get through a head in a couple of meals.

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:50 am
by vivienz
Bump!
I've been harvesting my romanesco for a 2 to 3 weeks now and thought I'd report back on this thread that I started earlier in the year. The reality is that I haven't needed to do 'cut and come again' as the heads themselves are modest and we can use an entire one in one meal as, say, a veggie bake type thing, or two meals as a side dish. I've left the plants in after taking the main head for the time being, just to see if I get any bonus crop but I'm not sure how well they will withstand any turn in the weather - I shall report back on this, too! I don't need the space for anything, so I'll give it a go.
I didn't put that many plants in in the end, just 4, as they take a lot of room. As a late autumn crop, they've been useful and a nice change, so I may well grow them again next year. They haven't been difficult or time consuming (apart from the caterpillars that seem to be appearing from thin air at the moment) and so as long as there's space, they're worthwhile.
As a side dish recipe, I can recommend an Italian style dish. Once the spears have been boiled to the al dente stage, mix with a vinaigrette dressing, some soaked raisins and pine nuts. Throw in some chopped parsley and it all makes for a delicious autumn dish. I like it with a few peppadew peppers in there as well.

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 12:53 pm
by Primrose
Like the sound of your recipe Civien. I would think the onky risk of curing off part of a head at a time would be the risk of damage or infection setting in to the rest of the area.
I,ve currently got some nice little cabbages growing in a big tub as an experiment and am just picking off outside leaves to use as they grow bigger. I do,prefer to leave plants growing whenever possible and just take from them what I need. Currently I have a row of Fordhook Giant Swiss chard leaves growing. Their leaves are so big that it's easy to walk along the row just picking the outside biggest ones leaving the plants to go on growing. As long as one has the space to do this and winter weather permits, I prefer to do this rather thwn dig them up as consequent storage and use then becomes more problematic.

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 8:07 pm
by vivienz
Here's today's bit of fractal cauliflower! So pretty!

Re: Romanesco as cut and come again..

Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 9:16 am
by Johnboy
Just to slightly dip out of the context of the thread but an answer to Primroses' mention of Sea Kale Beet which I grow and I sow many seeds in a row and then simply harvest them when the plants are about six inches high. Simply pull nip the roots off and was and cook by steaming. With the plants so young they are beautifully tender and take but seconds to cook.
I have my doubts that Romanesco is actually cut and come again having not read the RHS article I think that it is more pick as you need and then always have a supply of fresh Romanesco. Romanesco has been described as "heaven on a plate with a white sauce." It certainly takes some beating for flavour.