Fresh or frozen broccoli can be used for this delicious, comforting broccoli cheese gratin. The cheese sauce is simple but spiked with broccoli cheese soup instant pot for added depth of flavour.

Serve as a side dish or a vegetarian supper. The most common variety of broccoli is calabrese, which is available all year round. Long-stemmed sprouting broccoli, which may be either green or purple, is in season during the spring, and romanesco, which is pale-green in colour, and closely related to the cauliflower, appears in the autumn. Look for tightly packed, dark-green or purple heads with no signs of yellowing or flowers, and firm stems. Fresh broccoli should be refrigerated in breathable wrapping, and consumed within 2-3 days of purchase.

To freeze it, steam or blanch it to your taste, cool in iced water, drain, and freeze in a sealed container for up to 12 months. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It is eaten either raw or cooked. Broccoli is a particularly rich source of vitamin C and vitamin K.

Broccoli resulted from breeding of landrace Brassica crops in the northern Mediterranean starting in about the sixth century BC. There are three commonly grown types of broccoli. The most familiar is Calabrese broccoli, often referred to simply as “broccoli”, named after Calabria in Italy. It is a cool-season annual crop. 3 times more glucoraphanin and produced by crossing broccoli with a wild Brassica variety, Brassica oleracea var villosa. The majority of broccoli cultivars are cool-weather crops that do poorly in hot summer weather. When the cluster of flowers, also referred to as a “head” of broccoli, appear in the center of the plant, the cluster is generally green.

Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Broccoli cannot be harvested using machines, meaning it must be hand-harvested. Boiling substantially reduces the levels of broccoli glucosinolates, while other cooking methods, such as steaming, microwaving, and stir-frying, have no significant effect on glucosinolate levels. The perceived bitterness of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, results from glucosinolates and their hydrolysis products, particularly isothiocyanates and other sulfur-containing compounds.

Mostly introduced by accident to North America, Australia and New Zealand, “cabbage worms”, the larvae of Pieris rapae, also known as the “small white” butterfly, are a common pest in broccoli. Furrow flood irrigation on a field of broccoli raised for seed in Yuma, Arizona. Broccoli “giant”, whose flowering head and stalk can reach a kilo. A Mechanistic Perspective on Process-Induced Changes in Glucosinolate Content in Brassica Vegetables: A Review”. From landrace to modern hybrid broccoli: the genomic and morphological domestication syndrome within a diverse B.

Complex Horticultural Quality Traits in Broccoli Are Illuminated by Evaluation of the Immortal BolTBDH Mapping Population”. Cauliflower and Broccoli”, Vegetables I: Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodicaceae, and Cucurbitaceae, Handbook of Plant Breeding, New York, NY: Springer, vol. The Best Broccoli Varieties to Grow Your Own”. British research leads to UK-wide launch of Beneforté broccoli”. Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, US Department of Agriculture. Human bitter perception correlates with bitter receptor messenger RNA expression in taste cells”. A star rating of 5 out of 5.