What you see: Your cauliflower looks…fuzzy? Not like a patch of mold, but something else…
What it is: The cauliflower is over mature or experienced challenging conditions while growing; the fuzzy bits represent an ill-timed move toward flowering.
Eat or toss: Eat!
Can you eat cauliflower if it gets fuzzy?
There are plenty of things in the world that ought to be fuzzy — tennis balls and stuffed animals, yes, but cauliflower, not so much. And yet, every so often, you see one, most likely in a home garden or farmers market, that looks like it’s sporting a soft buzz cut. This is called “bracting,” and is harmless. A similar condition, in which the surface of the cauliflower is less wispy, and the cauliflower’s flower buds start to emerge and separate, is called “ricing.”
The fuzz is little tiny leaves that emerged too early!
A head of cauliflower, of course, is a dense cluster of flowers that aren’t yet flowers, which scientists call an “immature inflorescence.” Left to its own devices, a cauliflower would eventually turn into a pretty bunch of yellow or white flowers, with little leaves just below the flowers. Those leaves are called “bracts” and when cauliflower looks fuzzy, it’s often because baby bracts have grown prematurely and are poking through the surface of the cauliflower. While they look super tiny now, eventually they’d become leaves, like you can see below:
When a cauliflower is exhibiting a similar condition, “ricing,” the issue is not those tiny leaves, but rather that the little buds are emerging and separating from the head. If left alone, all cauliflower would eventually get “ricy”– those loosening buds signal overmaturity; it’s only a problem for growers if it happens too early. In bracting, on the other hand, those little leaves are “out of synch with curd development,” Jim Myers, a professor in the horticulture department at Oregon State University, explained in an email. “If they develop too early, then they produce the fuzzy-headed appearance.”
A cauliflower that’s bolting or moving toward opening up its flowers as it moves onto its next stage of development. (Image courtesy of Jim Myers, Oregon State University).
Cauliflower’s flowering process can be thrown off by the weather
At a certain point in a cauliflower’s development, it switches from the vegetative stage, where it focuses on growing, to the reproductive stage, where it focuses on making flowers. Vernalization, or exposure to certain weather patterns that cues plants to get ready to flower, helps bridge the two stages. If temperatures aren’t right during that transition strange things can happen. The stage (growth-oriented or reproduction-oriented) a cauliflower is at when it experiences excessive cold will determine if its buds separate ahead of schedule or if its little bracts poke through the surface.
While climate seems to be the main culprit in these issues, overmaturity and rapid growth, possibly from excessive nitrogen in the soil, could also lead to loose and emerging buds, according to International Produce Trading. A Bayer fact sheet on cauliflower head maturity notes humidity can contribute to both conditions and that large fluctuations between day and nighttime temperatures can trigger fuzziness.
These issues are generally regarded as aesthetic challenges. I prepared the cauliflower pictured in this post, and after cooking, the little tufts were undetectable. The roasted curds tasted great. An article on International Produce Training notes that some people feel ricing affects the flavor, but that others find it only detracts from the appearance. Honestly? I wouldn’t worry about it. I think it looks cool.
Still, loose or protruding flower parts can make a crop hard to market. Myers said cauliflower growing regions that haven’t struggled with ricing or bracting in the past may start to see it more as global temperatures rise. For growers, one solution is to simply switch to varieties that are more comfortable with warm weather.
“There are, for example, tropically adapted cauliflowers that produce good quality heads under high temperatures,” he wrote in an email.
In fact, riciness and bracting are just two of the stunts fussy cauliflower can pull if farmers don’t bend to their wishes. Cauliflower, along with cabbage and broccoli, is part of a group known as “cole crops,” which have stringent climatic demands for producing high quality products, writes Ron Goldy on the Michigan State University Extension website. “However, the prince/princess/prima donna or the diva, if you will, amongst the cole crops is cauliflower. It takes a great deal of pampering to get high quality cauliflower. Growing conditions have to be just right–not too hot. They cannot be treated too well with water or fertiLizer or they ‘rice,’ but not enough and you will get poor yields.”
SOURCES:
- Jim Myers. Professor, Vegetable Breeding and Genetics. Oregon State University. College of Agricultural Sciences. Department of Horticulture.
- Riciness and bracting in cauliflower – Literature search 2024 and synopsis of the syndromes. Jim Myers. Oregon State University.
- Cauliflower- Ricey. Tyawman. International Produce Training. September 14, 2012. Accessed December 2024.
- Cauliflower: Produce Fact Sheet. Recommendations for maintaining postharvest quality. Postharvest Research and Extension Center. University of California.
- Cole crops and its diva, the cauliflower. Ron Goldy (with later updates). Michigan State University Extension. October 10, 2018. Accessed December 2024.
- Cauliflower. Melissa Petruzzello. Britannica. Last Updated: Nov 29, 2024 Accessed December 2024.
- Curd Initiation and Transformation in Tropical Cauliflower Cultivars under Different Temperature Treatments Chen-Yu Lin, Kan-Shu Chen, Hsuan-Ping Chen, and Hsiang-I Lee (Department of Vegetable Crops, Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute); Ching-Hsiang Hsieh Department of Plant Industry, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan). HORTSCIENCE 54(8):1351–1356. 2019. Accessed March 2025.
- Grevsen, K., Olesen, J. E., & Veierskov, B. (2003). The effects of temperature and plant developmental stage on the occurrence of the curd quality defects “bracting” and “riciness” in cauliflower. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 78(5), 638–646. https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2003.11511677. Accessed March 2025.
- Cauliflower Head Formation. Bayer Vegetables. Accessed March 2025.
- Postharvest Management of Cauliflower for Quality and Safety Assurance. Edralina P. Serrano and Rosa Rolle. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2025.
This post has nothing to do with cauliflower rice.
