Broccoli

Broccoli is a truly super vegetable

Broccoli is more nutritious per bite than any other vegetable. Broccoli contains Vitamin C and Vitamin A (in Beta-Cardone form) which are both well known to be active in the fight against heart diseases and several cancers such as lung, colon and breast cancer.

Broccoli is very high in potassium which can help with high blood pressure and is plentiful in folic acid which is very good for pregnant woman in the healthy tissue development of fetuses. So when your mother told you to eat your greens when you were little, she did it with good reason!

Broccoli belongs to the Cabbage family

The cabbage family includes Broccoli, Kale, Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts. They are know as Cruciferous vegetables and are recommended by experts to be eaten several times a week as part of your diet. However, broccoli is tops in being an intestinal gas producer!

The best way to eat broccoli is to eat it raw rather then cooked. You can eat it raw in a nice salad with walnuts and a little olive oil or you can slice it up and serve it along side carrots and cucumber as a dipping vegetable. Eating broccoli raw is more nutritious than steaming or boiling, which makes the broccoli lose some of its nutrients in the process. Another way of eating broccoli is to slice it up and throw it in a stir fry along with other vegetables. If you want your children to eat broccoli, without seeing it on their plate, try adding it to chicken when making a pie or cover it in a cheese sauce and serve it as broccoli cheese rather then cauliflower cheese!

Choosing a good cut of broccoli

Broccoli is available all year round but is best eaten during the months of October to May, as the vegetable is a cold weather crop and grows poorly in the summer. When choosing broccoli to buy, go for the dark green pieces or even the purplish ones, as they contain more Beta-Carotene, an important antioxidant, rather then the yellow colored pieces. The heads of the florets should be tightly compact, even in color, and the leaves and stem should not looked wilted. Keep broccoli in the drawer of your fridge in a bag but do not seal it. Broccoli is best used within the next few days of when purchased.

Broccoli comes from the Latin "brachium," meaning arm, via the Italian word "braccio."

Trick to keep broccoli from smelling up your house

Did you know that if you add a slice of bread to your pan while cooking broccoli, it can eliminate the smell?