Broccoli comes from wild mustard, which flowers in order to reproduce.
In fact, many vegetables come from just that single plant - we've cultivated it in so many ways for so many years, we've got some very distinct varieties:
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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Seriously?? Wow, a friend had been talking my ear off with brassicacea fact and failed to mention this? Thanks for sharing!
B. oleracea gets all the fame.
B. rapa never gets the respect it should.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_rapa
Bok Choi
Bomdong
Choy sum
Komatsuna
Mizuna
Napa Cabbage
Rapini
Tatsoi
Turnip
Yellow Sarson
Oil seed Mustard
Wow, TIL that canola oil seed is natural hybridization of B. oleracea (Cabbage) and B. rapa (Chinese Cabbage).
The germans almost got it right with the naming
| English | German | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Cabbage | Kohl | "Cabbage?" |
| Brussel Sprouts | Rosenkohl | "Rose Cabbage" |
| Kolarabi | Kohlrabi | "Rabbi's Cabbage" ^I'm^ ^joking^ |
| Kale | Grünkohl | "Green Cabbage" |
| Broccoli | Brokkoli | "Brother's Cabbage" ^Jk.^ ^They^ ^fucked^ ^up^ ^here^ |
| Cauliflower | Blumenkohl | "Flower Cabbage" |
- my mind is blown
- how much time did you spend on that table
Brussel sprouts are also called "Kohlsprossen" in some german speaking areas -> cabbage sprouts. Cauliflower is also called "Karfiol" ("Car-fee-ol which i dont have a fucking clue how it came to be.)
From Italian cavolfiore (“cauliflower”), from cavolo (“cabbage”) + fiore (“flower”).
Kale, Kohl, add Cauli all come from the same Latin word caulis, btw.
I once had someone accuse me of being bourgeoisie for eating Brussels sprouts.
You should've been eating cabbage like a good proletariat /s
That's not why you're bougie
It's because of the light-up sneakers, isn't it?
It's because of your monocle and top hat.
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My parents had some lettuce on their balcony but failed to harvest it in time so it grew taller and taller. They gave it to a friend as a birthday present and nobody could say what weird plant they had brought.
"Let us see if anyone else can guess", accompanied by aggressive eyebrow movements.
Oh, you've met them.
That's called bolting, and it's no longer enjoyable to eat when it's done that.
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I only know this because im a really shit gardener
Same, but it makes the bees happy.
Always a good thing. Bees, hell insects in general are being obliterated by climate change.
That's why some of us try to grow a pollinator garden. I'm not quite there yet because the property I bought was all paved in concrete, but I'm getting there. So many types of bees. It's beautiful to see. And others like butterflies are coming now, too.
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This is called "bolting" in gardening terms, when a plant goes to flower or seed.
Not exactly. It is bolting when it starts sending up a flowering stem, the very beginning of flowering. Every broccoli I've ever eaten has bolted, but not many of them have bolted and flowered.
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I... don't know enough about broccoli to figure out if this is a meme or not.
I don't know enough about memes to figure out if this is broccoli or not.
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It is not, with broccoli and cauliflower you literally eat the buds, or how they are called in English, and they can of course flower.
We call them "florets", which means "small flower"
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Does it taste good?
In my opinion, no. It is picked and consumed when the buds are still tight, if the head starts to loosen or the buds begin to open it has a more bitter taste to it.
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Typically when plants flower they become more bitter. There are outliers but the general rule holds. Broccoli is better before it flowers fs
Does it taste better when it blooms?
Grew broccoli for the first time this year. The answer is worse, chewier, stringier.
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It becomes bitter.
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What I get from this: we eat broccoli before it reaches sexual maturation.
So you don't enjoy eating fully grown broccoli, you enjoy eating prepubescent broccoli children.
I'm also realising that this is true of a lot of veg...
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Is it tasty?
What about cauliflower?
Once it blooms it turns bitter. Still edible, but a different flavor
Yes, you can eat the flowers. We combine them with regular broccoli in a saute. They make a pretty addition. The very end of the stems are also edible but anything more than an inch or two from the end can be woody.
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So do the flowers smell like a fart too?
If your broccoli smells like a fart then that means you have overcooked it in water.
Try roasting that shit, you will find that broccoli smells and tastes fucking fantastic.
For anyone in NE North America, our native Golden Alexander plant can be eaten in a similar way and tastes quite a bit like broccoli. As a bonus, it’s a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies, so it’s a wonderful addition to the garden!
My grandpa always leaves some of the veg he grows to bloom so he can take the seeds to plant in the next year. It's really interesting to watch them develop!
Green onion bulbs are a delicacy! You can eat the flower, but it's not as juicy and a little papery.
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