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News / Life / Clark County Life

Market Fresh Finds: Broccoli – the love-it-or-despise-it vegetable

By Roberta Doster
Published: August 2, 2019, 6:03am

Broccoli, affectionately know as “trees” in our family, is a member of the Brassica family of vegetables. It’s a close relative to cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, rutabaga, choy sum, collard greens, kohlrabi and kale. Like artichokes and cauliflower, broccoli is an edible flower with a mildly cabbage-like flavor to most palates. Sadly, some individuals dislike this vegetable because it may be bitter or tasteless to them.

Broccoli is an annual plant, grown each season from seed. This plant grows well in cool weather conditions such as in the Vancouver area. You’re apt to find broccoli appearing in our local farmers markets about now. To select the most flavorful and nutritious, choose the greenest stalk that sports the tightest flower buds. Also be aware that broccoli comes in several varieties: one with thin stalks and heads called sprouting broccoli and an unusually bright yellow green, pyramid shape named Romanesco.

Broccoli is a nutritious, healthy vegetable. This veggie provides high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, calcium, and fiber. Scientific studies suggest that broccoli, as well as all other brassica vegetables, are protection against cancers of the lungs and digestive tract.

Broccoli began as a native in the Mediterranean area. It is purported to have been engineered from a cabbage cousin by the Etruscans — an ancient people who lived in an area of Italy now know as Tuscany. (As a historical note, the Etruscans were in power from 500 BC to 200 BC but were in turn conquered by the Romans.). It’s an English name that comes from the Italian word broccolo, which means “the flowering crest of cabbage” and the Latin word brachium that translates into arm, branch, or shoot.

Once you’ve purchased several of these tasty “trees,” how do you prepare them? Broccoli has a variety of uses. It can be eaten raw with a tasty dip or steamed. It can be used as a base vegetable for stir fry. Add cheese sauce to broccoli, and you’ve got a tasty side dish. Chop it up in small pieces and add it to a salad or creamy slaw.

If you happen to have an abundance of this veggie, broccoli can be blanched and frozen, lasting up to a year in your freezer. Blanching is either submersing or steaming a prepared veggie. Steam broccoli for 5 minutes or submerge it in boiling water for 3 minutes. Plunge the vegetable immediately into iced water following the heat treatment. Once it’s cooled, package it for freezing.

If you’ve avoided sampling broccoli, do so this summer. It’s definitely a flavorful, vitamin-filled addition to any meal.

For additional recipes and serving suggestions, check out Chef Scotty’s Market Recipes at http: ex100.wsu.edu/Clark/?p=8163. The FINI program provides help to SNAP consumers to purchase more fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets. Find out more at: https://extension.wsu.edu/clark/healthwellness/market-fresh-tours.


Roberta Doster is a Clark County WSU Extension Master Food Preserver. For additional recipes, food preservation and food safety information visit http://ext100.wsu.edu/clark/?p=1134. Have questions? Call MFP Helpline: (564) 397-5366, or join Facebook Discussion Group “WSU Home Food Preservers – Clark County.”

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