You Can (and should) Eat Your Broccoli Leaves!

Today's update will be a quick one, but I think you'll also find it useful if you grow broccoli. I recently read an article about a "new" vegetable that Foxy, one of the major produce suppliers in the US, is marketing across the country called BroccoLeaf. It is, as the name suggests, simply broccoli leaves. A quick Google search will turn up dozens of entries about the product. As someone who loves cooking (and eating) I was intrigued. 

our first broccoli harvest of the season!

If you grow broccoli you know that there are a lot of leaves on the plant when it is fully mature, which means that there is a tremendous amount of produce that typically goes to waste (or the compost bin) if you only eat the florets. I wanted to see if the leaves could stand up as a real component of a meal and not just a small scale snack while working in the garden, so when we harvested our first batch of broccoli last night I decided to mix in several large leaves and sauté it all together with some butter and fresh herbs. In a word: incredible! The leaves taste like a milder, slightly less sweet version of the floret/stalk.

leaves, stalk, and florets ready for the saute pan!

You can count me among the many who never thought to eat the broccoli leaves, aside from munching on a few here and there while working in the garden. In retrospect, it's obvious! Being from the same family as kale and collards, it only stands to reason that broccoli leaves (which look a lot like collard leaves) would be not only edible but tasty and packed with nutrients.

If you enjoyed this post, please like Captive Roots on Facebook and help spread the word! Remember that you can also receive alerts when future posts become available by subscribing via email on the right hand side of the screen.

Until next time, happy gardening!