Get Ready to Broc Your World!

Maxine June 28, 2021

Broccoli is in season right now on our farm and we’re excited to share with you all about why broccoli is a healthy food choice due to its high nutritional content, delicious taste, and wide availability and appeal. Broccoli is a sun loving, cool weather crop harvested on our farm both in the Spring &… Read More »

Broccoli is a sun loving, cool weather crop harvested on our farm both in the Spring & Fall. We start our crops in our high tunnels in early spring so we have broccoli ready for harvest before the heat of the summer. Broccoli takes a long time to mature, approximately 100 days, so it is a celebrated vegetable once it’s ready for harvest here on our farm. We harvest our broccoli by hand in the morning when the buds are firm and tight.

Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable in the brassicaceae family related to bok choy, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts & kale and you may see us utilizing companion planting these crops together in our high tunnels. Broccoli is Italian for the flowering top of cabbage and is virtually a giant bundle of unopened flowers. If allowed to mature it would develop into an abundance of yellow flowers before eventually going to seed. They call this process “bolting”.

Broccoli has a high nutritional content said to be rich in vitamins and minerals along with potassium, folic acid, iron and fiber. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, one ounce of broccoli has an equal amount of calcium as one ounce of milk. Other sources have touted that broccoli may have as much vitamin C as a small orange and that one-third of its carbs come from fiber. Either way, it’s full of phytonutrients and nutrition that when consumed may contribute to your overall health.

Broccoli is a popular vegetable seen in a wide array of recipes spanning many cultures and cuisines. It is popularly used for roasting, steaming, sautéing, stir frying, however, can also be eaten raw in salads, vegetable platters, slaws and so much more. Broccoli can be stored in the fridge for up to five days, remember to wash before eating, not before storage. You can blanch and freeze broccoli florets for up to one year in your deep freezer. Compost the larger stems and save or freeze the stems for smoothies.