I first wrote about this cauliflower 6 years ago. Bayu who lives in Indonesia left a comment asking if I had any spare seeds I would send for free, but I don’t have these any more. Does anyone have some seeds, or would like to buy some seeds, and send them to Indonesia for free? If so, please let me know and I’ll forward the email address.
These are pretty ordinary seeds. If you live in the US, they are available for example at Baker Creek. There are similar varieties with different names, so if you have something that looks the same it probably is.
I have a few seeds each of ‘Violetto di Sicilia’ and ‘Franci di Sicilia’; I don’t know whether they’re the same rthing, but they’re supposed to be purple. I haven’t grown them out. Feel free to get in touch, anyway.
It looks rather like ‘Purple Cape’, possibly an 18th Century South African variety, which came to britain around 1808. It was regarded as a broccoli at first, and may have been reselected for tighter heads at some point. If ‘Purple of Siciliy’ is an old one, it could be another version of it.
Could this be it?
http://www.seedsofitaly.com/product/169
Hi Robert,
Thanks! Yes, I’m pretty sure these are all pretty much the same thing. I was trying to think of Purple Cape, but I couldn’t remember the name. There were quite a few brassicas that went back and forth between Europe and South Africa around that time, and I think this was one of them.
I grew Cape Spitz from Mike of PlanB here, a variety of oxheart cabbage that’s remarkably similar to what the Dutch call spitskool (kool meaning cabbage).
I’ve sent you and Bayu both emails…
The recipes on The Seeds of Italy website look delicious & the color of the cauliflower is different from any I have seen. Jackpot! Thanks for sharing the link Robert. Ain’t life grand!