Broccoli: Green and Healthy!

Broccoli is likely, similar to spinach, for many a childhood trauma. But give the green vegetables a second chance!

Broccoli is God’s revenge for pizza – or something like that loud sayings from all those who do not like the green vegetables.

But perhaps it’s just the wrong preparation? A soggy soft boiled broccoli is now really neither appetizing nor really delicious …

Properly prepared broccoli can also shine on pizza …

Hate love broccoli

What child loves broccoli? For most of us, the green cabbage is a vegetable which, at best, is cooked in the stew until unrecognizable, has a right to exist. Unjustly, as we find!

The broccoli shows its kinship to the cauliflower by its external form, but is incomparably different in the taste!

Originally broccoli comes from Asia Minor, which is why it can not be missed in many Asian recipes. Via Italy, he came to Europe, where he is now mainly cultivated on the Mediterranean.

And so it fits well on pizza and other Mediterranean dishes. In Germany, however, broccoli also grows very well and is harvested here until October.

Healthy ingredients

Broccoli contains a great deal of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and sodium and B vitamins such as B1, B2, B6, E and especially a lot of vitamin C and provitamin A.

In order to preserve these substances as much as possible, broccoli should not be boiled in water but rather steamed. If you cook it, use the boiling water for soups or stews so that the dissolved minerals are not lost.

Usually only the beautiful florets are used, but the stalk, the leaves and stalks are also edible! You can purify them, so you can refine potato puree or simply make a creme soup from it!

If you do not immediately use for it, freeze the leftovers in pieces and use them with your next creme soup or the stew!

Preparation tips

Broccoli should be firm and firm at the time of purchase and never feel like rubber or wrinkled. Then he is no longer fresh.

The length, size and thickness of the stalk indicate the size of the “head” of the broccoli: the stalk is very thick, but there are only a few florets on it, so you can assume that the broccoli is already Long in the shop and was promoted “sales”, in the Röschen were removed!

Wash the whole head indiscriminately, so that you do not wash out the water-soluble vitamins contained in it.

As already mentioned, all parts are edible, but the stalk is slightly woody and should be used only pureed or very small cut in soups and stews.

The “woody” in the stalk is not unhealthy – on the contrary, it is a healthy dietary fiber that you should not throw away!

Broccoli can also be eaten raw! However, sensitive people occasionally react with bloating, but you should try it yourself, instead of leaving the nursemaid “Broccoli is raw poisonous”.

Raw, it is a great ingredient for green smoothies and salads! In salads the small florets are also recommended to shine even greener in the lettuce!

If you only use a sharp knife to cut the mini cherries, which remind you of “crumbs” from the raw vegetables, you get a decorative topping for soups, stews, smoothies and other vegetables. Try the healthy decoration once!

Take care not to overcrow the vegetables! On the one hand, you destroy many vitamins and wash the minerals out of the vegetables. On the other hand, you also change the taste from “fresh” to “musty”.

Broccoli must still have bite when you serve it!