Broccoli comes from wild mustard, which flowers in order to reproduce.
In fact, many vegetables come from just that single plant - we’ve cultivated it in so many ways for so many years, we’ve got some very distinct varieties:
Seriously?? Wow, a friend had been talking my ear off with brassicacea fact and failed to mention this? Thanks for sharing!
B. oleracea gets all the fame.
B. rapa never gets the respect it should.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_rapa
Bok Choi
Bomdong
Choy sum
Komatsuna
Mizuna
Napa Cabbage
Rapini
Tatsoi
Turnip
Yellow Sarson
Oil seed Mustard
Wow, TIL that canola oil seed is natural hybridization of B. oleracea (Cabbage) and B. rapa (Chinese Cabbage).
The germans almost got it right with the naming
English German Comment Cabbage Kohl “Cabbage?” Brussel Sprouts Rosenkohl “Rose Cabbage” Kolarabi Kohlrabi “Rabbi’s Cabbage” I’m joking Kale Grünkohl “Green Cabbage” Broccoli Brokkoli “Brother’s Cabbage” Jk. They fucked up here Cauliflower Blumenkohl “Flower Cabbage” Brussel sprouts are also called “Kohlsprossen” in some german speaking areas -> cabbage sprouts. Cauliflower is also called “Karfiol” ("Car-fee-ol which i dont have a fucking clue how it came to be.)
- my mind is blown
- how much time did you spend on that table
Kale, Kohl, add Cauli all come from the same Latin word caulis, btw.
I once had someone accuse me of being bourgeoisie for eating Brussels sprouts.
You should’ve been eating cabbage like a good proletariat /s
That’s not why you’re bougie
It’s because of the light-up sneakers, isn’t it?
It’s because of your monocle and top hat.
I’ve found that anyone who uses bourgeoisie unironically can and should be ignored
Hmm… that sounds like something a bourgeoisie would say to their bourgeoisie friends.
no no they’re right, a normal person says “bougie”
So what is kohlrabi? Is it good? How do you eat/cook it?
Raw, it’s a little spicy, similar to radishes. Boiled, it’s very sweet. It can take the place of carrots and turnips in soups.
The simplest preparation that’ll give you an idea of how the ingredients tastes on its own: cut into thin slices and boil in water with a bit of salt and msg (I personally like to use chicken stock).
The outer layer is very tough and fibrous, so make sure to get rid of that first. Depending on the quality of the bulb, you might also end up with one that’s fibrous throughout. Those are not pleasant to eat, and if you happen to get one of those, I assure you that it’s not a typical experience.
It tastes like broccoli stems. Some are more tender than others (just like with broccoli stems).
I usually slice into little julienned pieces and marinate it in salt and acid for it to wilt into some kind of modified cole slaw.
Better than Brussels sprouts. Anything is better than that hell.
The sprouts actually taste better if you lightly blacken them, like asparagus. It’s one of the weird veggies where you go a little past maillard.
I only know this because im a really shit gardener
Same, but it makes the bees happy.
Always a good thing. Bees, hell insects in general are being obliterated by climate change.
That’s why some of us try to grow a pollinator garden. I’m not quite there yet because the property I bought was all paved in concrete, but I’m getting there. So many types of bees. It’s beautiful to see. And others like butterflies are coming now, too.
I dunno about growing a pollinator garden but we’re just lazy and don’t garden much at all and that seems to do the trick lmao.
Just need to get those native plants growing and they can usually take care of themselves.
the great thing about pollinator gardens is that they are always trying to grow, and you just have to let them do so
I got “weeds” growing in my driveway. I told my landlord (dad) to not touch the decent flowering ones because it helps the bees. They arent blooming anymore but they had blue and purple flowers.
For anyone in NE North America, our native Golden Alexander plant can be eaten in a similar way and tastes quite a bit like broccoli. As a bonus, it’s a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies, so it’s a wonderful addition to the garden!
My grandpa always leaves some of the veg he grows to bloom so he can take the seeds to plant in the next year. It’s really interesting to watch them develop!
My parents had some lettuce on their balcony but failed to harvest it in time so it grew taller and taller. They gave it to a friend as a birthday present and nobody could say what weird plant they had brought.
Wait till it flowers! It has a really nice inflorescence, although I think other Lactuca species are more beautiful overall :)
Does it taste good?
Typically when plants flower they become more bitter. There are outliers but the general rule holds. Broccoli is better before it flowers fs
This is called “bolting” in gardening terms, when a plant goes to flower or seed.
Not exactly. It is bolting when it starts sending up a flowering stem, the very beginning of flowering. Every broccoli I’ve ever eaten has bolted, but not many of them have bolted and flowered.
Does it taste better when it blooms?
Grew broccoli for the first time this year. The answer is worse, chewier, stringier.
It becomes bitter.
It’s closely related to mustard, and mustard’s distinct flavor is from the seeds. So I’d assume that if you leave it long enough for the blooms to seed, they’d taste similar to mustard. Most plants tend to get bitter after they bloom, because they send all of their nutrients to the flowers. And mustard does tend to be fairly bitter.
