It lies there -- lurid, light green -- in the produce section of the supermarket. At first glance, it looks like the little green guys from Mars have been at work matching the vegetable to their skin tone.
Actually, it's "broccoflower" -- the latest horticultural hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower that could be the big hit of the season. In about 18 months, this new vegetable went from a relative unknown to national distribution.
Broccoflower has the identical shape and weight of cauliflower, but it's more elegant and the color is as green as an underripe banana. At fashionable buffets, its green allure is a startling highlight, particularly in the middle of ordinary white cauliflower, dark green broccoli florets or both.
The flavor and aroma of brocco- flower is moderate, in contrast to the pungent, cabbage-like glory of white cauliflower.
And it's good for you, too. A surprising quality of the new vegetable is it scores higher nutritionally in some ways than either of its parents. According to tests done at the food science and nutrition labs of Cal-Polytech University, broccoflower is very high in vitamin C -- up to three times the vitamin C in cauliflower and roughly equal to broccoli. It's high in folic acid and has double the beta carotene of cauliflower. For most other nutrients, it's the equal of cauliflower.
The new vegetable was developed for the market in 1988, and made its first big marketing push in Texas early last year. Its first big trade exhibition came last May at the Food Marketing Institute show in Chicago.
The Dutch seed for the new vegetable originally sold for $1,500 a pound, but broccoflower is not exorbitantly priced at retail. Expect to pay between $1.50 and $2 a head in the supermarket.
Simple, rather than complex, seems to be the favored cooking method. One of California's best-known bistro chefs, Guy Stockrider, of Laguna Beach, simply steams the vegetable and tosses it with butter, salt and pepper.
Jerry Purdy, produce director for Giant Foods, agrees that steaming is the ideal. Giant is among the first stores to carry the product in Maryland, but it's also available at Safeway and SuperFresh stores.
"We've had it about a month," says Jack D'Anthony of the SuperFresh in Westminster, "it's selling fairly well."
Eastern food marketers expect fresh broccoflower to begin peaking after April l, though a good number of local supermarkets already carry the product.
