The Roman
natural history writer, Pliny the Elder,
wrote about a vegetable which might have
been broccoli. Some vegetable scholars
recognize broccoli in the cookbook of
Apicius.
Broccoli was certainly an Italian vegetable,
as its name suggests, long before it was
eaten elsewhere. Its first mention in France
is in 1560, but in 1724 broccoli was still
so unfamiliar in England that Philip
Miller's Gardener's Dictionary (1724
edition) referred to it as a stranger in
England and explained it as "sprout colli-flower"
or "Italian asparagus". In the American
colonies, Thomas Jefferson was also an
experimentive gardener with a wide circle of
European correspondents, from whom he got
packets of seeds for rare vegetables such as
tomatoes, noted the planting of broccoli at
Monticello along with radishes, lettuce, and
cauliflower on May 27, 1767. Nevertheless,
broccoli remained an exotic in American
gardens. In 1775, John Randolph, in A
Treatise on Gardening by a Citizen of
Virginia, felt he had to explain about
broccoli: "The stems will eat like
Asparagus, and the heads like Cauliflower."
Nutrition:
Broccoli is
one of the most healthful foods you can eat
- Along with a rich supply of vitamins and
minerals:
- Vitamin
C, folate (folic acid)
-
potassium
-
phytochemical sulforaphane, which helps
reduce the risk of cancer.
- In
addition, broccoli contains a good amount
of beta-carotene.
- And,
unless you drown it in cheese sauce,
broccoli is (like all green
vegetables) low in calories and
virtually fat-free.
Serving
size 1 medium stalk (148 grams)
Calories 45 (calories from fat 0) - Total
Fat 0.5g 1%
Saturated fat 0g 0% - Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 55mg 2% - Total Carbohydrate 8g 3%
Dietry fibre 5g 20%
Sugars 3g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A 15%
Vitamin C 220%
Calcium 6%
Iron 6% |
Broccoli
is a plant of the Cabbage family.
