Romanesco

This geometric marvel of the brassica world is often erroneously described as a hybrid between cauliflower and broccoli, but it is actually a variety of cauliflower that developed a genetic mutation in two genes involved in flower production that creates the unique fractal pattern of repeating spiraling cones. A fun nerdy fact: The number of spirals correlates with the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence (a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two that precede it, for example 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and so on). Romanesco comes in different shades of white, yellow, orange, green, and purple. This flower head goes by various names: Romanesco broccoli, Romanesco cauliflower, Roman cauliflower, and fractal broccoli. When cooking, I treat it like cauliflower, but with one exception: I rarely grate it, because that would do a disservice to this fractal beauty. Use it in place of the cauliflower head in the Royal Cauliflower Roast with Almond Cream.