# Is anyone else having trouble finding fresh cauliflower?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 25, 2017, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187 "2017-04-25T04:42:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/1 "2017-04-25T04:42:08Z")
For the past several weeks, I have not seen it at my local grocery stores; I don’t really have a regular store and simply stop in at whatever store I happen to be driving by while running errands. I finally did find some today, in a display of 3 or 4 medium-sized heads in the organic section, and not that outrageously priced.
I asked the cashier if there was a crop failure (I didn’t see anyone in the produce section while I was there) and she hadn’t heard, or noticed that people weren’t buying heads of cauliflower, which I do semi-regularly. I didn’t see anything online about it, either.
So, any other cauliflower lovers experiencing this?
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/2 "2017-04-25T04:54:02Z")
I haven’t looked for cauliflower specifically, but there is a notice posted in my usual grocery store that due to an unusually wet season in their supplier’s growing region, broccoli selections would probably be fairly limited.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/3 "2017-04-25T05:02:36Z")
We have plenty of broccoli here right now.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/4 "2017-04-25T06:55:21Z")
I see large bins of both broccoli and cauliflower where I shop.
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/5 "2017-04-25T07:17:06Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> For the past several weeks, I have not seen it at my local grocery stores; I don’t really have a regular store and simply stop in at whatever store I happen to be driving by while running errands. I finally did find some today, in a display of 3 or 4 medium-sized heads in the organic section, and not that outrageously priced.
>
> I asked the cashier if there was a crop failure (I didn’t see anyone in the produce section while I was there) and she hadn’t heard, or noticed that people weren’t buying heads of cauliflower, which I do semi-regularly. I didn’t see anything online about it, either.
>
> So, any other cauliflower lovers experiencing this?
\*\*
In which part of which country?\*\* 😕
Availability of fresh produce is usually seasonal, and can often be affected by the weather, amount of rainfall, pests destroying crops, big suppliers going out of business, etc.
That’s why the prices of fresh produce fluctuate a lot.
A cashier in a store will know nothing! The person who does the ordering for the store may know. Any large wholesale produce supplier in the area, who supplies the retailers, will certainly know.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/6 "2017-04-25T10:33:44Z")
In Toronto, the wholesale price of cauliflower is approaching something ridiculous like $9 a head. Lettuce is very expensive, too.
Here’s an article blaming too much rain in California:
[Why it’s so hard to find lettuce in stores these days](http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-it-s-so-hard-to-find-lettuce-in-stores-these-days-1.3362314)
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/7 "2017-04-25T11:20:57Z")
Meanwhile, our local farm market has amazing heads of cabbage. We’ve been having cabbage dishes (soup, haluski, colcannon, stuffed cabbage , etc) to take advantage of this.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/8 "2017-04-25T13:28:10Z")
I don’t know what a good price for cauliflower is, but when I’ve seen it in NEPA, it’s been close to $5 a head. And not very large heads, either. Found a sale last week for $2.99 a head. Since it was payday, it looked like a decent deal.
Too early yet for farmers markets here.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/9 "2017-04-25T14:10:30Z")
> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> Too early yet for farmers markets here.
I’m spoiled. Our neighbors are farmers, and they have a market that’s open year-round.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/10 "2017-04-25T14:32:35Z")
We’re good on the cauliflower, but I have noticed the broccoli looking rather pathetic lately.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/11 "2017-04-25T14:35:29Z")
The last time I tried to get some cauliflower was a little over a month ago, and Aldi didn’t have any. Fortunately, though, Mom had most of a head left over from something that she let me have. I imagine I could have found some somewhere if I had shopped around (if nothing else, I’m _certain_ the West Side Market would have had it), but I very seldom go anywhere but Aldi for groceries.
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### Author:  [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/12 "2017-04-25T14:44:40Z")
Most of the AZ and CA cauliflower, broccoli and iceberg crop was lost to the Jan/Feb storms. A similar weather pattern affected Spain as well, and lettuce is still in short supply. You may be experiencing knock on effects.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/13 "2017-04-25T14:48:44Z")
It tends to be very expensive up here in the northeast - $4 a head is a good price. Tend not to buy it except when it’s the only choice for a particular dinner, or on sale down to 2/$5 or $3.
I rarely see it missing from the shelf, though.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/14 "2017-04-25T16:24:42Z")
Last I saw, in our store, the price was $5 a head for cauliflower and may have gone up since then. Iceberg lettuce was over $2 a head. The prices are usually around $2.40 and $1.29 respectively. It was also blamed on the weather in California.
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### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/15 "2017-04-25T18:05:52Z")
I bought a medium sized head of cauliflower today without paying attention to the marked price. I mean, how much could it be? How about $6! WTF? The cashier pointed the price out and asked me if I still wanted it. Reluctantly, I said, “Yes”. I don’t know why. On the way out of the store I went by the bin and found out why I didn’t check the price. It was nowhere to be found. At $6, no wonder. NJ, FWIW.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/16 "2017-04-25T18:24:17Z")
$1.49/lb here in Chicago at my grocery. I just checked. Santa Rita brand, grown in US.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/17 "2017-04-25T18:27:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> $1.49/lb here in Chicago at my grocery. I just checked. Santa Rita brand, grown in US.
I very rarely see cauliflower priced by the pound. They tend to be sorted by size (so that a whole case/load/shipment is much the same size) and priced by the head. But at a guess, that’s $4-6 a head.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/18 "2017-04-25T18:32:06Z")
I guess I don’t pay much attention to prices when I grocery shop. If the recipe calls for cauliflower, I buy a cauliflower.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/19 "2017-04-25T18:50:22Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> I very rarely see cauliflower priced by the pound. They tend to be sorted by size (so that a whole case/load/shipment is much the same size) and priced by the head. But at a guess, that’s $4-6 a head.
Looking at my receipt, it was $2.01 lb @ 1.49/lb for a total of $2.99 for the head.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-having-trouble-finding-fresh-cauliflower/785187/20 "2017-04-25T18:59:25Z")
^That should read “2.01 lb” not “$2.01lb”, of course. At any rate, what I would call a medium head of cauliflower. I don’t know if they consistently price it by the pound or not, but there’s certain produce where prices will vary from by the piece to by weight from week to week or month to month. Limes, in particularl. Usually, they’re something like 8-12 for a buck (today it was 8), but sometimes, it’ll be $1.99 or $2.99/lb or whatever. They do this primarily with produce such as lettuce, peppers, and lemons.
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