minutes before they are
wanted for the table they are to be reboiled steadily until the strong
taste is gone.

When cauliflowers are preserved in a shed or cellar they often become
more or less wilted and strong in flavor, and can then be rendered
palatable only by cutting them off from the stalks on the previous day
and throwing them into cold, salted water, frequently changing it until
they are wanted; in this way the heads become plumped up, and the strong
disagreeable smell and taste which they have acquired is in some degree
removed; but even under the most careful treatment they lose their fine,
white cauliflower color.

To remove any caterpillars or other insects which may have found
lodgment in the cauliflower head it should be examined as carefully as
possible, opening it a little if necessary. It should then be placed top
down in cold salt water for an hour; or, better still, in cold water and
vinegar. This is believed to be particularly effective in dislodging any
insect life that may be present. If the heads seem badly infested,
however, which they seldom are, the only safe way is to break them up
before cooking.

In cooking the heads whole, which is a favorite method, care is needed
not to boil too long, so as to cause the head to come to pieces. To
prevent any danger of breaking the head in cooking, it should be wrapped
in cheese cloth or other similar material, in which it is to be handled.

Cauliflower is in season in this country from June until December, but
is most abundant during the month of October. Those found in market
during the hottest summer months are apt to be dark in color, somewhat
strong in flavor, and filled with small leaves. Broccoli is cooked in
nearly all cases precisely as cauliflower.

Porcelain lined or similarly guarded pots should be used in which to
cook these vegetables, as iron is liable to impart to them a dark color.

The use of earthenware vessels in which to cook vegetables of the
cabbage tribe is recommended as follows by a writer in the _American
Garden_:

"To have any of the Brassicae in proper flavor we must go to the German
housewives and learn of them to cook cabbage, cauliflower, etc., in
earthenware instead of metal. The German potters make stout boilers,
like huge bean-pots, that hold six or eight cabbages, for restaurant
cooking, and they are quite a different vegetable treated in this way.
Try the experiment; put a cabbage in a stone jar with plenty of