BROCCOLI and calabrese – are they different or the same? Over the years, the two names have become muddled, so what exactly are we talking about?
For most of the centuries that we’ve been growing these plants, we had broccoli, sometimes called ‘sprouting broccoli’. These are tall, tough, winter-hardy brassicas, grown for their small, prolific flowering spears – like mini-cauliflowers that sprout from the tops of the plants and from the leaf joints below. They were invaluable as some of the few fresh vegetables that could be cropped outside in winter and spring.
Then along came calabrese. Originating in Calabria, at the foot of Italy’s boot, calabrese produces a single, much larger, head – rather like a green cauliflower – at the top of
