Broccoli is a member of the brassica family, like cabbage.
The plant produces green flower heads on thick stalks. They are picked and eaten before the flowers bloom. Broccoli and calabrese are often confused.
Calabrese is the large headed variety that most of us call Broccoli. Actual Broccoli has individual stalks for each flower clump. It is often purple, and gets called PSB – short for Purple Sprouting Broccoli (confused yet?!).
In the picture, PSB is on the left, Calabrese is on the right.
“PSB” is a delicious spring vegetable that can start to appear as early as the end of December and has a long season running through until the end of April. It cooks quickly and is packed with nutrients, with a more delicate flavour than full heads of calabrese.
Here are our favourite recipes especially designed for sprouting broccoli –
Sprouting Broccoli with Toasted Seasame Seeds.
Spicy Purple Sprouting Broccoli Pasta
Cracked Bulgar Wheat With Broccoli & Cream Cheese Sauce
Sicilian Vegetable Soup with PSB
Your Views…
If you try this ingredient or one of our recipes, do let us know – we’d love to hear your comments and variations. And please do share your own PSB recipes here on Ooffoo by using the green Add Something button.
Categories: food, seasonal eating, vegetarian
