Broccolini
Encyclopedia
Broccolini is a green vegetable
similar to broccoli
but with smaller florets and longer, thin stalks. Although often misidentified as young broccoli, it is a cross between broccoli and kai-lan
, Chinese broccoli. A natural hybrid of the cabbage
family Brassica oleracea italica x alboglabra
, it was developed by the Sakata Seed Company of Yokohama, Japan, with the name Chinese kale or gai lan. Broccolini's flavor is sweet, with notes of both broccoli and asparagus.
Broccolini is a registered trademark of Mann Packing Company, Inc. Its generic name is baby broccoli with product look up number 3277. It is also known by the names: Asparation, Asparations, Bimi, broccoletti, broccolette and Tender Stem. Sanbon Incorporated originated a commercial program for asparation in Mexico in 1994 and first brought it to the U.S. market in 1996. Mann Packing Company introduced the new vegetable to the US market in 1998. They grow the vegetable year round in California and Arizona. Today, you can find broccolini throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The entire vegetable is consumable, including the occasional yellow flower
. Rather delicate, common cooking methods include sauteing, steaming, boiling, and stir frying.
Nutritionally, broccolini is high in vitamin C
but also contains vitamin A
, calcium
, folate, and iron
.
In Brazil, the "common" form of broccoli ("brócolis") actually refers to broccolini, whereas more expensive traditional broccoli is called "brócolis americano" (American broccoli).
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
similar to broccoli
Broccoli
Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
but with smaller florets and longer, thin stalks. Although often misidentified as young broccoli, it is a cross between broccoli and kai-lan
Kai-lan
Kai-lan, also known as Chinese broccoli, is a leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny, almost vestigial flower heads similar to those of broccoli. Broccoli and kai-lan belong to the same species Brassica oleracea, but kai-lan is in...
, Chinese broccoli. A natural hybrid of the cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
family Brassica oleracea italica x alboglabra
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, it was developed by the Sakata Seed Company of Yokohama, Japan, with the name Chinese kale or gai lan. Broccolini's flavor is sweet, with notes of both broccoli and asparagus.
Broccolini is a registered trademark of Mann Packing Company, Inc. Its generic name is baby broccoli with product look up number 3277. It is also known by the names: Asparation, Asparations, Bimi, broccoletti, broccolette and Tender Stem. Sanbon Incorporated originated a commercial program for asparation in Mexico in 1994 and first brought it to the U.S. market in 1996. Mann Packing Company introduced the new vegetable to the US market in 1998. They grow the vegetable year round in California and Arizona. Today, you can find broccolini throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The entire vegetable is consumable, including the occasional yellow flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
. Rather delicate, common cooking methods include sauteing, steaming, boiling, and stir frying.
Nutritionally, broccolini is high in vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
but also contains vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
, calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
, folate, and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
.
In Brazil, the "common" form of broccoli ("brócolis") actually refers to broccolini, whereas more expensive traditional broccoli is called "brócolis americano" (American broccoli).