My dad always wanted the season to go much longer than I did because I was young and cold during the cauliflower harvest and didn't yet understand that the later the harvest, the better off we would be as a family and the more vegetables we could provide to others, even as the frigid winter set in. The freezing temperatures made the cauliflower even better, heartier, and more flavorful but it took me a long time to realize its virtues. It was not until I was older that I began to appreciate its sturdy character and ability to withstand an unforgiving season. But even as I came to appreciate it, white cauliflower still bored me. It was only when we began planting cauliflowers in brilliant shades of purples and yellows that I really became excited about it. My favorite is our new Mulberry Cauliflower which looks like it's been dipped into a beautiful vat of lilac. It's a brilliant hue that intensifies when splashed with vinegar and punches up every plate it graces. The color is unique in that it changes dramatically when cooked or pickled. I'm so thrilled about this cauliflower variety that when I look back on those cold winter cauliflower harvests of long ago, they are now tinged with a nostalgic fondness for this robust vegetable that tenaciously sticks with us and doesn't give up, even when all of the others have been defeated by the winter.