Everything You Need to Know About Broccoli

“Ooo, let’s have trees for dinner.” If you’re a parent you just may have tried to make broccoli fun by calling them trees. After all, broccoli florets do look a little bit like trees. Did it work? Perhaps not, but I believe you should still eat those dreaded trees for dinner because they are incredibly nutrient dense and fresh broccoli is so affordable year ‘round.

What is Broccoli?

Broccoli is a popular cruciferous vegetable with high amounts of Vitamins K and C – 1 cup of broccoli has over 200% of your needed daily value of Vitamin K and over 100% Vitamin C. It is also rich in antioxidants and considered a great anti-inflammatory vegetable.

How to Choose Broccoli

Broccoli is found in the produce department, usually in the cooler near cauliflower. Look for a firm rich green head without black, yellowy, or brown spots or a wilted look. You can also check the end of the stem to make sure it isn’t too dried out looking or blackened and cracked. This isn’t as important if you aren’t using the stem but I like to use as much of the broccoli head as possible and chop the stem into soup and stir fry.

How to Use Broccoli

Broccoli retains the most nutrients when you eat it raw or lightly steamed. I also find that people enjoy it more than if it is boiled to a mush. Really, who likes mushy vegetables?! One of the things I have found is many people love vegetables so much more when they are prepared properly without cooking the ever-loving daylights out of them. I also use broccoli in soup and stir fry quite frequently and find it is a great way to introduce this vegetable to broccoli haters.

If you find your broccoli has some spots before you use it, just trim them off. Occasionally, my broccoli ends up in the back of the refrigerator and gets a little wilted and sad. I turn it into soup or add it to a casserole of some sort at that point so it isn’t wasted, and broccoli cheese soup is one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasure meals.

How to Prepare Broccoli for Use

Rinse the broccoli well. If using organic broccoli, I put it in a bowl of salt water for about 30 minutes to chase any creepy crawlies out. However, I cannot tell a lie, I rarely use organic broccoli because it can be so buggy. One time I bought a case of organic broccoli at food auction because it was super cheap. It was also super yuck and filled with bugs! I threw it away because I knew I could never get them all out.
Trim off any leaves.
Cut the florets off by the stem.
Cut the florets down to desired size.

Cooking Preparations for Broccoli

You can eat broccoli raw or cook it. One of the most common preparation methods is boiling but it isn’t recommended that you boil it long as it loses valuable nutrients quickly even with steaming. We prefer to eat broccoli raw, steamed, or roasted.

Most people eat the broccoli florets (the flowery ends) but the stem is excellent also. I freeze chopped stems to add to soups as this stretches the grocery budget and minimizes food waste. I also find that the stem can be a little tougher and cooking it in soup softens it nicely.

How to Preserve Broccoli

Broccoli is usually affordable year ‘round but sometimes it goes on sale for $0.99/lb and when it does I will stock up and blanch a batch for the freezer. It comes in handy for soups, roasting, and easy meals on weeks the grocery budget is a little tight.

Freezing Broccoli

I freeze broccoli just as I do cauliflower. First, I wash it, then blanch it, and finally, freeze it in 2-3 inch sized florets – think of the size they are when you buy a bag of frozen broccoli. Since I have a food scale I flash freeze them as noted below then package them in 1 or 2 pound bags.

Blanching Broccoli

You can blanch broccoli just like you do most other vegetables.

Bring stock pot of water to a boil.
Prepare a bowl of ice water (to stop the cooking process and cool the broccoli after blanching).
Add broccoli to boiling water.
Blanch for 3 minutes.
Remove broccoli from water and give a quick ice bath.
Drain then package and freeze.

TIP: Flash Freezing: If you want your broccoli to freeze in individual florets, spread them out on a cookie sheet that’s been covered in parchment, waxed, or freezer paper. Put in freezer for 1 hour then package as you wish for freezing.

Steam Blanching Broccoli

You can also steam blanch broccoli.

Put 2-3 inches of water in bottom of a pan and fit a fine sieve, steamer basket, or mesh colander over the top of it.
Bring water to a boil.
Prepare a bowl of ice water (to stop the cooking process and cool the broccoli after blanching).
Put broccoli in colander/steamer basket.
Steam cook for 5 minutes.
Remove broccoli from water and give a quick ice bath.
Drain then package and freeze. (You can also flash freeze per the tip above.)

TIP 2: I use my salad spinner to get excess water off my produce after blanching and before freezing.

Canning Broccoli

Broccoli has a low acid level so it isn’t approved for water bath canning unless you are making pickled products. I don’t play with canning recipes too much since I’m not an expert at pH balances and don’t want to risk killing anyone but I have several go-to resources any time I can – Fresh Preserving and Food in Jars. I have a pressure canner but it needs a few pieces replaced (it’s the canner we used when I was a kid) so I only use recipes that can be water bath canned. See everything I use to waterbath can and steps that show just how easy it is.