Broccoli
Your whole body loves broccoli! Your heart, brain, lungs and blood are all nourished by broccoli’s vitamins: A, B9, C & K. Healthy was never this tasty.
Bring on the Broccoli!
Fields of C.
Believe it or not, broccoli has 50% more vitamin C than a fresh orange, so it's an important cold-buster for your kids' immune systems.
See straight, too
Broccoli is also a good source of beta carotene, which is important for good vision. It's also a great source of vitamins A and B9, which are important for your heart, brain, lungs and blood.
Forever young.
Broccoli is one of the best sources of vitamin K, which is considered an anti-aging vitamin because it may prevent bone loss and slow Alzheimer’s disease.
Who needs beef?
Vegans typically eat a lot of broccoli because for a vegetable, it’s high in protein, always a concern for people who don’t eat meat or eggs. Make sure to put plenty of broccoli on the menu if you have any young vegetarians in the house — or even if you don’t.
Growing Broccoli
Broccoli is a rewarding plant for home gardeners because you can get a lot from one plant, and kids will enjoy growing it because it keeps paying off. But you have to time it right.
- Broccoli doesn’t like heat — it can tolerate frosts down to about 20 degrees, but it doesn't do well in temperatures above 80 degrees. So consider that when planting. It takes about two months from seed to harvest, so you might want to plant before the last frost.
- If you live in a place with mild summers, plant at different times so you keep getting broccoli throughout the fall, winter and spring.
- Plant the seedlings at least 18 inches apart. Broccoli does need light, so plant it in a sunny area.
- To deter pests, try sprinkling the leaves with cayenne pepper powder before it forms heads.
- Harvest the heads when they’re about 6 to 12 inches across and still compact. But don’t pull the plant out of the ground — cut the heads off at an angle, with about 8 inches of stem. Don’t leave a flat surface because you don't want rainwater to collect in the stem.
Check back a few days later — the broccoli plant will already be growing another head!
The King of Veggies — and the Veggie of Kings
Broccoli has been the choice of kings, emperors and (most) presidents for centuries.
Dear to your heart — and the rest of your body, too.
Even though broccoli is famous as a vegetable that some kids resist, if you lead by example, you’ll show your whole clan that broccoli is more than just good for you — it’s good eating too. We’ve got lots of creative ideas to help your kids fall in love with broccoli!
Pick
To get the freshest broccoli, look for tight buds with dark, intense colors: green, blue-green and purplish-green are all good. Yellow is bad. (Sorry, yellow.) Check the cut ends of the stalk. Stalks with an opening in the center tend to be tougher than those that are completely solid.
Store
Refrigerate broccoli right after purchase; it will stay good for a couple of weeks. Don't rinse it before refrigerating because mold can develop on it. It is best stored in your refrigerator’s vegetable crisper.
Prep
The broccoli stem is also good eating, but it’s tougher than the florets so it needs slightly different treatment. Cut off the bottom inch or so, which is the toughest part. Then chop the rest of the stem into much smaller pieces than the florets. If you’re stir-frying, put the chopped-up stem in the pan a minute or two before the rest of the broccoli. The stems are particularly good in pasta dishes because they stay firmer than the florets.
Cook
Here's a good one for young kids: you can make veggie “trees” with carrots for the trunk and broccoli for the branches and leaves. Blanch the broccoli first to make it easier to eat, and use Hidden Valley Ranch as a dipping sauce.
Broccoli Recipes
We all know it’s great raw with a little ranch, but broccoli is a versatile vegetable. From casseroles to soups, snacks to suppers, this vegetable is great in a variety of dishes. Check out our recipes for new ideas.
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Broccoli Stuffed Shells
Large pasta shells stuffed with creamy cheese and chopped broccoli.
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Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
Ranch dressing gives this favorite pasta dish that extra boost of tangy flavor kids love.
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Garden Patch Salad with Chicken
A delicious salad to delight the entire family.
Think you know everything about broccoli?
Test your knowledge with our Broccoli Quiz. Find out just how much you know and maybe learn something new along the way.
- 1. Broccoli is in the world's oldest cookbook, the Roman book “Apicius.” How was it prepared?
- A) Roasted in olive oil
- B) Boiled and spiced with cumin, coriander and chopped onion
- C) Grilled on an open flame
- D) Baked by hot stones underground
The Answer is B
The recipe is almost 2,000 years old, but it still sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
- 2. Which country grows the most broccoli?
- A) China
- B) Turkey
- C) Italy
- D) United States
The Answer is A
China grows 45% of all the broccoli in the world. That's a lot of beef with broccoli.
- 3. Who sent broccoli sales plummeting by saying, “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it.”
- A) Emeril Lagasse
- B) Thomas Keller
- C) Rachel Ray
- D) George H.W. Bush
The Answer is D
Fortunately for Bush, as President of the United States, he never had to eat broccoli again. If your kids absolutely refuse to eat it, you can tell them, “You know how you can get out of eating broccoli? Study hard, work hard and become President. Otherwise, eat up.”
- 4. What is the sentence “Eat your broccoli.” used to define in the Columbia Guide to Standard American English?
- A) Parenting
- B) Hosting a dinner party
- C) A command sentence (a sentence in which you command someone)
- D) A sentence without a subject
The Answer is C
Have you ever issued that command, “Eat your broccoli”? A little Hidden Valley Ranch might make that grammatical structure unnecessary.
- 5. Which is most closely related to broccoli?
- A) Cauliflower
- B) Mustard greens
- C) Broccoli rabe
- D) Turnips
The Answer is A
All four are the same genus, Brassica, as broccoli, but cauliflower is actually the same species (oleracea). Broccoli rabe is different from broccoli; it's more closely related to turnips.
- 6. What does a broccoli plant do when you cut its head off?
- A) Hibernate
- B) Die
- C) Grow flowers
- D) Grow another head
The Answer is D
That’s what makes harvesting broccoli a pleasure — come back a week later and there’s more broccoli!
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Find out more about this month’s featured veggie: celery.
What’s For Dinner Tonight?
Join the Garden Party
Host Jennie Garth shows your family how to prepare and eat balanced, healthy meals.
Love Your Veggies
Learn more about our Love Your Veggies school grants program and other great ways to help kids develop a lifelong love of veggies.
