Broccoli, Raab Fall

Broccoli belongs to the Brassica family of vegetables, the largest vegetable family known which includes cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, turnips and rutabaga. In fact, broccoli is nearly identical to cauliflower, the only differences being the green color of broccoli and the fact that cauliflower tolerates heat while broccoli does not. There are fundamentally two types of broccoli: the older variety called sprouting or asparagus broccoli belongs to the Italica group and the heading variety belongs to the Botrytis group. The Italica variety is thought to have developed from a form of European wild cabbage and originated in the Eastern Mediterranean. It made its way to Italy by the 17th century. As it spread to Northern Europe it became known as Italian Asparagus. Italian immigrants brought broccoli to the United States in the early 1800s. The heading variety named calabrese forms one dense head which can be purple or green. Broccoli Calabrese often will not form sprouts once the main head has been harvested.