Who you callin' a Side Dish?

[digitS']

"2010, diet surpassed smoking as the No. 1 risk factor for disease"

Really?!

I guess we knew this . . . sort of. Are we really paying attention, tho'? And, what are we doing about it?

"Broccoli's Extreme Makeover" (link)

Who you callin' a Side Dish?

Steve

[tomf]

They don't need to sell it to me, I love broccoli.

[imafan26]

I like broccoli, but I like Brussels sprouts too. I think as the link said, broccoli suffers from a poor image, and bad experiences. My mom thought I was hanging around strange people when I started to like eating raw mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots with ranch dressing. When broccoli is not overcooked and seasoned well it tastes great.

I like broccoli better than kale. At first it was hard to eat kale and Swiss chard because they have strong flavors, but once I figured out how to prepare them I really like them now.

[digitS']

It is fun that the campaign . .

. picks a fight with kale .

Yeah, kale is an up-&-comer but broccoli there for the long haul.

Steve

[imafan26]

No one really promotes broccoli leaves either, I find them easier to eat than kale.

[weterman]

I would put brocoli in mashed potatoes when I was little, and I would put dressing on the brocoli, it looked like potatoes - snow. brocoli - trees. dressing- snow on the trees.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, broccoli is my number one favorite vegetable and I grow it as much of the year as I can.

And I always wondered why people don't eat the broccoli leaves. It grows lots of big leaves and broccoli is actually very closely related to cabbage, which we eat the leaves of (when you start them from seed, the seedlings look identical).

[digitS']

This has gone the right direction for posting it in front of a bunch of gardeners! I should have had it in the veggie forum.

I just wanted to jump back in here to say that broccoli leaves are fine - take some with the buds. Of course the lower leaves are a bit tough. Take too many on top and you are gonna limit buds forming . . .

What to do? Maybe Portuguese Kale is for you!

Portuguese Kale will not make buds the first year. It is probably a closer relative to cabbage than to kale but it doesn't make a head, either. Makes wonderful soup!

Steve