Broccoli

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Broccoli

Broccoli is a plant of the cabbage

Cabbage

The cabbage is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae , used as a Leaf vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial plant, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, forming a characteristic compact, globular cluster ....
family Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, also known as the crucifers, the mustard family or cabbage family is a Family of flowering plants ....
(formerly Cruciferae).

It is classified as the Italica cultivar group

Cultivar group

Under the botanical nomenclature of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants , a cultivar group is any gathering of cultivars designated by common traits....
of the species Brassica oleracea
Brassica oleracea

Brassica oleracea or Wild Mustard, is a species of Brassica native to coastal southern and western Europe, where its tolerance of sodium chloride and calcium carbonate and its intolerance of competition from other plants typically restrict its natural occurrence to limestone sea cliffs....
. Broccoli possesses abundant arboreal, luscious, fleshy, flower heads, usually green in color, arranged in a tree-like fashion on branches sprouting from a thick, edible, sturdy, meaty stalk. The mass of flower heads is surrounded by lavish leaves. Broccoli most closely resembles cauliflower

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed....
, which is a different cultivar group of the same species, but broccoli is green while Cauliflower can appear in purple and yellow in addition to the traditional white variety.

Nutrition Facts

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Calories in ????
Carbs in ????
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Encyclopedia

Broccoli is a plant of the cabbage

Cabbage

Brassicaceae

Cultivar group

Cauliflower

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the term refers exclusively to the form with a single large head. This form is sometimes called "Calabrese" in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, where sprouting (non-heading) types and those with underdeveloped flower buds are also sold as broccoli.

Varieties

There are three commonly grown types of broccoli. The most familiar is sometimes called Calabrese in Great Britain and simply "broccoli" in North America. It has large (10 to 20 cm) green heads and thick stalks and is named after Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. It is a cool season annual crop.

Sprouting broccoli has a larger number of heads with many thin stalks. It is planted in May to be harvested during the winter or early the following year in temperate climates. The heirloom variety "Calabrese" available in North America is of this type.

Romanesco broccoli
Romanesco broccoli

Romanesco broccoli is an Eating flower of the species Brassica oleracea and a variant form of cauliflower.Romanesco broccoli was first documented in Italy in the sixteenth century....
has a distinctive fractal

Fractal

A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented Shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity....
appearance of its heads, and is yellow-green in colour. It is technically in the Botrytis (cauliflower

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed....
) cultivar group.

Purple cauliflower is a type of broccoli sold in southern Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It has a head shaped like cauliflower, but consisting of tiny flower buds. It sometimes, but not always, has a purple cast to the tips of the flower buds.

Cultivation, nutritional value, and preparation

Broccoli is a cool-weather crop that does poorly in hot summer weather. Broccoli grows best when exposed to an average daily temperature between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit , who proposed it in 1724. Today, the scale has largely been replaced by the Celsius scale; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other countries such as Belize....
(18 to 23 degrees Celsius

Celsius

Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death....
). The majority (99%) of the United States broccoli crop is grown in California and Arizona. Other cultivar groups of Brassica oleracea include cabbage

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed....
(Botrytis Group), kale

Kale

Kale or Borecole is a form of cabbage , green in color, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms....
and collard greens

Collard greens

Collards are various loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea , the same species that produces cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown for its large, dark-colored, greens and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the Southern United States, many parts of Africa, Montenegro, Spain and in Kashmir....
(Acephala Group), kohlrabi

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a low, stout cultivar of the cabbage that will grow almost anywhere. It has been selected for its swollen, nearly spherical, Sputnik program-like shape....
(Gongylodes Group), and Brussels sprout

Brussels sprout

The Brussels sprout of the Brassicaceae family, is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea cultivated for its small leafy green buds, which resemble miniature cabbages....
s (Gemmifera Group). Chinese broccoli (Alboglabra Group) is also a cultivar group of Brassica oleracea.

Broccoli is high in vitamin C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, a large number of simian species, a small number of other mammalian species , a few species of birds, and some fish....
and soluble fiber

Dietary fiber

Dietary fiber, sometimes called "roughage", is the indigestible portion of plant foods that pushes food through the digestive system, absorbing water and easing defecation....
and contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer

Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
properties including diindolylmethane and selenium

Selenium

Selenium is a chemical element with the atomic number 34, represented by the chemical symbol Se, an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, chemically related to sulfur and tellurium, and rarely occurs in its elemental state in nature....
. A single serving provides more than 30 mg of Vitamin C

Vitamin C

3,3'-Diindolylmethane

3,3'-Diindolylmethane or DIM is an anticarcinogen compound derived from the digestion of indole-3-carbinol, found in Brassica vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower....
found in broccoli is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with anti-viral

Virus

A virus is a Optical microscope#Limitations of light microscopes infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell . Viruses infect all cellular life....
, anti-bacteria

Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
l and anti-cancer activity. Broccoli also contains the compound glucoraphanin, which can be processed into an anticancer compound sulforaphane

Sulforaphane

Sulforaphane is an anticancer, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial compound that can be obtained by eating cruciferous vegetables such as brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, kale, collards, broccoli sprouts, chinese broccoli, broccoli raab, kohlrabi, Mustard plant, turnip, radish, Eruca sativa, and watercress....
, though the benefits of broccoli are greatly reduced if the vegetable is boiled more than ten minutes. A high intake of broccoli has been found to reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cell s of the prostate Mutation and begin to multiply out of control....
. Broccoli leaf is also edible and contains far more betacarotene

Carotene

The term carotene is used for several related substances having the formula C40Hx, which are synthesized by plants but cannot be made by animals....
than the florets.

Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed, but may be eaten raw and has become popular as a raw vegetable in hors-d'oeuvre trays. Although boiling has been shown to reduce the levels of suspected anticancer compounds in broccoli, other preparation methods such as steaming

Steaming

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Steaming is considered a relatively healthier cooking technique and capable of cooking almost all kinds of food....
, microwaving, and stir-frying have been shown not to reduce the presence of these compounds.

Broccoli is also high in vitamin K

Vitamin K

Vitamin K denotes a group of lipophilic, hydrophobic vitamins that are needed for the posttranslational modification of certain proteins, mostly required for blood coagulation....
.

Production

FAO reports that in 2008, China and India were the top producers of cauliflower and broccoli. About half of all cauliflower is raised in China and one fourth in India. In Europe, production has been in Spain since about 1990. In North America, production is primarily in California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. The seasonal average f.o.b.

Free On Board

FOB is an initialism for Free On Board or Freight On Board. Generally, FOB deals with the shipping of goods. It specifies which party pays for which shipment and loading costs, and/or where responsibility for the goods is transferred....
shipping-point price for cauliflower in 2004 was $33.00 per 100 pounds ($0.73/kg) according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

Gallery

External links

, USDA/ARS Vegetable Laboratory