Is my cauliflower still edible?

March 9, 2011 5:00 PM

Is my cauliflower still edible? It spent 2 nights in the trunk of the car, and probably froze and thawed twice.

The cauliflower is now a rubber, water-saturated mass that stinks to high heaven. But it stills like cauliflower, just stronger - so it doesn't exactly smell nasty.

If it's just the texture that's ruined, that's fine because it's going to be pureed in soup (faux potato leek soup). But if it's no good, I don't want to take the chance and waste my expensive leeks and boursin cheese. Help!

posted by kitcat to Food & Drink (19 answers total)

The cauliflower is now a rubber, water-saturated mass that stinks to high heaven.

Throw it out.
posted by special-k at 5:02 PM on March 9, 2011 [7 favorites]

You don't get a whole lot cheaper than a head of cauliflower. Toss it and go get one that isn't so stinky.
posted by phunniemee at 5:03 PM on March 9, 2011

Honestly, I would pitch it. Not because it will OMG KILL YOU, but because it sounds like it doesn't taste that great.

Hop over to the store and get a new head; or, if that's a big hassle, make a potato soup instead.
posted by ottereroticist at 5:04 PM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh please someone tell me I can eat it. I went to buy a new head, but put it back when I saw that it cost $4.50... I don't want to use potato because we are doing low-carb.
posted by kitcat at 5:11 PM on March 9, 2011

Best answer: $4.50 costs a lot less than the gastrointestinal distress you may incur from eating your current stinky one. I vote do not eat. Cauliflower should not have a strong smell.
posted by joan_holloway at 5:14 PM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you don't want to spend $4.50, buy a bag of frozen cauliflower. It should be fine in soup, and it will cost less. I usually pay $2 or less for a pound (or 20oz at Safeway.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:16 PM on March 9, 2011

Response by poster: I shall substitute broccoli. Sigh...
posted by kitcat at 5:17 PM on March 9, 2011

Oh please someone tell me I can eat it

You can eat it

[it's gonna be disgusting. I really can't see why you can't see that. And it probably isn't all that fantastically healthy either; old, frozen-thawed-frozen cauliflower. I mean, what do you actually expect people here to say?]
posted by Namlit at 5:22 PM on March 9, 2011 [6 favorites]

Eww revolting. Chuck chuck chuck. This is compost, not an ingredient.
posted by gomichild at 5:27 PM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

kitcat: "stinks to high heaven"
Don't eat it.
posted by Night_owl at 5:28 PM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dang, $4.50 for cauliflower; you're getting shafted, bro.
posted by phunniemee at 5:28 PM on March 9, 2011 [4 favorites]

For future reference, if any vegetable reaches the watery, stink-to-high-heaven stage, then it has gone bad and needs to be tossed out asap.


Oh please someone tell me I can eat it.

Seriously?
posted by special-k at 5:33 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, I think broccoli will be far tastier than cauliflower anyway. Broccoli + cheese in soup form is a winning combo.
posted by joan_holloway at 5:36 PM on March 9, 2011

Response by poster: I mean, what do you actually expect people here to say?

Well, I've seen carrots take on this texture straight out the ground if it freezes overnight, and while water gets into all the cracks and expands and the carrots get weird and rubbery, they're not make-you-sick bad.

But, your point is well taken.
posted by kitcat at 6:00 PM on March 9, 2011

Look, your cauliflower stinks, and if it tastes like it smells, it will ruin your soup. It is still a waste of money to make your other good ingredients into bad soup, especially if you have broccoli on hand as an alternative to the cauliflower. Toxicity is a sufficient but not necessary condition for disposing of food items for spoilage.
posted by gingerest at 6:13 PM on March 9, 2011

I'll eat ANYTHING. I thaw meat on the counter, I eat leftovers that have been out all night.

I wouldn't eat that cauliflower.
posted by KathrynT at 6:22 PM on March 9, 2011 [6 favorites]

If it doesn't look good or smell good, it's probably not going to taste good. It may not kill you, but I would hope that you have higher standards for your food than that.
posted by Sara C. at 7:11 PM on March 9, 2011

My philosophy is that if it's stinking, that's my body telling me that the stinky thing is unwelcome as a source of food.
posted by aniola at 7:26 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]

I have on occasion cooked and eaten a stinky thing and didn't get sick. It's never been worth it because it always ended up tasting like shit.
posted by h00py at 4:14 AM on March 10, 2011