Broccoli and calabrese

This week it’s:

MOST of us call it ‘broccoli’ or sometimes ‘sprouting broccoli’. Some of us call it ‘calabrese’. And in the USA they call it ‘asparagus’! Whatever it’s called, broccoli is one of our most commonly grown vegetables – but only in recent decades.

You won’t find broccoli in the wild because it is a man-made vegetable, actually an 18th century development. It derives from Brassica oleracea: loose, leafy, cabbage-like crops that grew in areas around the north Mediterranean coastline, around the 6th century BC. Let’s take a look at this green vegetable.

■ Broccoli (plus cabbage and Brussels sprouts) contains a minute amount of cyanide. Eating these vegetables ‘primes’ your liver to deal better with other poisons.