“BROCCOFLOWER”

The jokes about broccoflower are endless.

It’s a cauliflower dyed green. It looks like a green neon cauliflower. It’s a bad St. Patrick’s Day prank. . . .

Jokes aside, broccoflower, a relative newcomer in the marketplace, is a vitamin-packed genetic cross between broccoli and cauliflower; it has the physical characteristics of cauliflower and the chlorophyll of broccoli.

Sometimes when bitten, a cauliflower will bite back, but with the presence of the mild-mannered broccoli, the edge is removed. It is a little sweeter and creamier; it is a kinder, gentler hybrid that even broccolihaters such as President Bush may like.

Since its introduction in October, 1988, the green produce is gaining recognition. “Right now we’re the only ones in the country growing broccoflower. We started out shipping 50 to 100 cartons a week; now we’re up to 12,000 to 15,000 cartons,” said Rosie Pollard, sales agent for Tanimura & Antle in Salinas, exclusive growers of the novel vegetable.

Terry Arias, an Orange County sales representative for Coast Apex, which distributes broccoflower, carries the produce in her car and gives it to market managers and restaurateurs to try. When it comes to restaurant owners, though, “I give them samples and they love it, but it’s a little slower making it on the plates. Orange County is very conservative and moves into trendy things slowly. But as the area becomes familiar with broccoflower, we’ll see it served in more restaurants,” she said.

One avant-garde restaurant that prefers to set trends instead of follow them is Monique’s Restaurant in Laguna Beach--the only bistro in the county to serve broccoflower. “We like to try different things. We are a contemporary 90-seat French restaurant and we have a lot of guests who are regulars. It’s nice to be able to give them a variety,” said executive chef Guy Sockrider.

And how does a chef who trained under the masters in France prepare this new consumable? “We cook everything to order, but usually I steam it and toss it in butter with a little salt and pepper.”

Broccoflower has made some major inroads. So far it is in most major supermarket chain stores in Orange County plus a few of the independents, including Pelican Grocery in Newport Beach.

At the Ralphs at Brookhurst Street and Ellis Avenue in Fountain Valley, where there is a supply of broccoflower on hand, “it outsells the cauliflower” said Hector Gonzales, who not only works in the Ralphs produce section but is a fan of the new vegetable. “I had it when it first came in. I like it; it’s good. You can taste both flavors.”

Across the street at Lucky, produce worker Tom England said he can put a case of broccoflower out in the morning and by evening it’s gone. Sure enough, when shopper Allie Shakouri spotted the broccoflower display, she returned a head of cauliflower she had already picked to its nearby bin. “Those are my two favorite vegetables--broccoli and cauliflower. I’m going to try it,” she said.

As familiar as some county store personnel and shoppers are with the vegetable, some produce managers are still in the dark. When asked if they carry broccoflower, some answered: “You mean broccoli flowerets, don’t you,” or “What’s that? How do you spell it?” One manager even thought brocco was a brand name for flour.

A household word, it isn’t . . . yet.