“Eat your greens.” It’s the dinner-table plea all parents are familiar with, and children dread. And of all the green veg that have caused kids to turn their noses up, broccoli probably tops the list. Personally I love it, but I think it must be something about the slightly bitter taste and unusual texture that has traditionally made broccoli the least-loved veg among children. However, times are changing.
In the last few years, a quiet revolution has been taking place on our plates. In millions of homes, the ‘little trees’ have been replaced by a new kid on the block – Tenderstem broccoli or broccolini. Brits now consume around 750 tonnes of the vegetable each month.
It’s a hybrid ‘Franken-vegetable’ and, just like a hybrid vehicle or even hybrid animals, it’s a combination that produces something entirely new. In the case of Tenderstem, it’s a cross between conventional Calabrese broccoli and a type of Chinese kale.
It has a sweet, delicate taste with a nutty flavour and a crunchy texture. In fact, it tastes more like asparagus than traditional broccoli. And the clue is in the name; it has long tender stems, which some people love as much as the florets.
The news that will be music to the ears of all parents is that it’s packed with goodness; Tenderstem is a great source of vitamins A, C and K as well as being high in fibre, folate (a type of B vitamin) and potassium. Which all means it can help boost healthy skin, bones and blood as well as being good for energy, digestion and the immune system. What’s more, it’s fat-free and low in natural salts and sugars, so it’s up there with other superfoods, such as blueberries, avocados, salmon and walnuts. A real nutritional powerhouse!
So where did Tenderstem broccoli come from? It was first produced in Japan in 1993 by the long-established Sakata Seed Company, which has a proven track record in seed breeding worldwide and was founded just before the outbreak of the First World War. In some places Tenderstem is called baby broccoli and in the United States it’s better known as broccolini.
In the UK, we were blissfully unaware of it until 2000 when it went on sale here for the first time, with that most British of retailers, Marks & Spencer, leading the way.
For farmers who grow Tenderstem, it’s a labour-intensive crop but a high value one. Last winter, Alex Baylis from Minor, Weir and Willis Farms in Worcestershire spoke to the BBC as the harvest was underway. The company was employing 90 pickers working six days a week to bring the Tenderstem in from the fields. “The skill to harvesting it is knowing what to pick and what to leave,” Alex revealed. “If they’re taking stuff that’s too small and out of spec that’s then lost.”
Vegetables rarely make the news headlines but, in 1990, then US President George HW Bush famously banned broccoli from Air Force One and caused a huge fuss among American farmers. “I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it,” he said. “I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!”
I suppose if you’re the most powerful politician in the free world, you can do what you like. But it’s a shame President Bush wasn’t able to tuck into a tasty serving of Tenderstem at that time – if he had, perhaps he wouldn’t be remembered for making such a meal of eating his greens.
Catch up with Adam and the Countryfile team on BBC iPlayer.
Top image: Getty Images
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