Don’t let the broccoli grow too high!
- Broccoli is an edible flower head and colours rang from green to purple-green.
- Broccoli is native to the Mediterranean region and is also known as ‘Italian asparagus’, due to the popularity of the vegetable in Italy.
- Broccoli is from the family Brassicaceae, which is the family of cabbages, and its scientific name is Brassica oleracea italica.
- Broccoli is often cooked, steamed or boiled, but can be eaten raw, with leaves of the plant sometimes included.
- ‘Broccoli’ is named after the plural of ‘broccolo’, an Italian word, meaning the flower head of a cabbage, which comes from ‘brocco’ meaning ‘branch’ or ‘shoot’.
- Broccoli is very high in vitamin C and vitamin K, and has significant cancer preventing and DNA cell repairing properties.
- Broccoli likes growing in cool weather, being at best supply during winter and preferring temperatures from 18 to 23°C (64 to 73°F) during the day.
- There are three types of broccoli typically grown, and the most common type, Calabrese, has large heads that are 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 8 inches) in diameter.
- In 2008, China produced over two fifths of the total world production of 19,000,000 tonnes (21,000,000 tons).
- Bitter, yellow flower heads grow from broccoli, so they are best stored in temperatures less than 2°C (35.6°F) to prevent their onset.
Bibliography:
Broccoli, 2011, Fresh for Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/broccoli/broccoli.html
Broccoli, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli
