Broccoli from Another Planet

You probably have "old stand-by's" in your garden - like tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and green beans and every single year without fail, you plant them. You like certain varieties and you swear by them.  I'm like that too, but I also have an unofficial experimental plot where I plant odd things.  I find these odd varieties while perusing seed catalogs on dreary, wet, cold winter days while sitting in front of the fireplace.

This year I planted some purple cauliflower, some green cauliflower, and this oddity - Romanesco Broccoli.  It literally means broccoli from Rome because it originated in Italy.

Romanesco

Romanesco looks like a cross between a broccoli and a cauliflower, but if you look really close (and I wish I had a better camera to show you), it is very, very strange looking.  It has many points on it that are made up of spiral buds that are arranged in other spirals.  Those spirals make up curious patterns.

Up until it creates its head, you might easily mistake the plant for a normal broccoli or cauliflower plant, but then when it starts growing its head, you know immediately that this is not your everyday, run-of-the-mill broccoli.  No, this thing looks like it is truly from another planet.  Luke Skywalker, from Star Wars, was a farm boy on the planet Tatooine before rising to fame.  Yes, I'll bet this is what Luke probably grew before becoming a Jedi.

Romanesco spirals

Have you ever noticed that so many things in nature have patterns that are distinct and orderly in a mathematical arrangement?  Things like the pattern on pine cones, pineapples, artichokes, sunflowers, and romanesco...  Looking at things like this is evidence to me of a Divine Creator. Things like this just couldn't have been created by accident.

In fact, since we're talking about "Broccoli from Rome," I thought this verse is quite appropriate:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  Romans 1:20

Well, regardless what it looks like, I harvested some and we're going to taste it soon. It is supposed to have a nutty, delicate taste most similar to cauliflower.  Although we haven't tasted it yet, I'm sure it will be "out of this world."