Purple sprouting?

SaverSarah_2

Such a dumb question, sorry! Just started an organic box service, got some purple broccoli-type stuff in it. I think it's purple sprouting. I chopped the heads off and cooked it in the same way as broccoli, but it occurred to me that this was pretty wasteful and perhaps I was meant to cook the whole thing?

I've (obviously!) never bought this before. Any help would be appreciated! And is it the same thing as spring greens? Only I found another posting related to this.

Thanks guys!

lin473

Yes you are right.
You eat the leaves as well.
Just cut off the tough or damaged bits and trim the stalks.
We've got some home grown this year - lovely stuff.Evem the kids eat it!

SaverSarah_2

Great! Thanks Lin. Gotta say I was disappointed that they didn't stay purple once they'd been cooked, thought the kids (espesh my little one) would love the novelty of purple broccoli!

So would I just chop the whole thing up, stalk, leaves an' all? And just compost the tough bit at the bottom of the stalk?

r.mac_2

i like to eat brocolli stems - they are delicious, just trim the ends and boil o r steam as normal. if you want a fancy recipe try wrapping parma ham around a small bunch of PSBroccoli after you have cooked them - a delicious dinner party starter

as for spring greens - i was experimenting last night. I chopped the stalks off and then as they were quite think, cut out the stem in teh leaves, using a inverted v shape. then i roughly chopped and stirfried - it was yummy, more so than i expected.

good luck

scuzz

Ok, I keep seeing purple sprouting broccoli everywhere. Now is there actually any difference in taste?

I would like to try it, but want to know if it's worth paying the extra for?

cuddlymarm

Hi
I tried some and didn't find a lot of difference in taste. I thought it was a nice change but the kids looked at it as if I was trying to poison them. They did the same with one of those Romanesque? cauliflowers (the pretty green ones)
I'm just going to have to wait until they leave home to be more adventurous with food:eek:

thriftlady_2

Not that much difference in taste, but should taste fresher and sweeter as it is a homegrown, seasonal crop at the moment. I think it is overpriced in the supermarkets (and over-packaged) try a farmshop

When preparing it you eat all the vegetable - stalk, leaves and flowers. It's best steamed.

Serve with melted butter like asparagus, or a cheese sauce (good with blue cheeses).

When you eat it pat yourself on the back for eating something that is grown in this country, even down the road and not arrived on a truck from Spain

angelavdavis

I grow the purple sprouting and find it tasty but that's probably more because its picked just before cooking. I haven't tried to grow the usual supermarket style (calabrese). The purple is darker when its cooked too (goes green but still dark)

madmum33

My family love purple sprouting, it's well worth looking out for on farmers markets , I think it's tastier than ordinary broccoli, and possibly more nutritious because of the dark leaves. We tried growing it but the catterpillars love it too!

mikeywills

You will generally find it is sweeter, mainly because unlike normal calabrese it doesn't form a large head with side shoots, purple sprouting is the side shoots. Definately worth growing yourself, nothing like picking from the garden, washing and steaming within minutes. The taste is so much better than that supermarket rubbish. Go on give it a go, you won't regret it.

angelavdavis

madmum33 wrote: »

My family love purple sprouting, it's well worth looking out for on farmers markets , I think it's tastier than ordinary broccoli, and possibly more nutritious because of the dark leaves. We tried growing it but the catterpillars love it too!

I'm a meanie - I put netting over my plants to stop the cabbage white getting in! This was last summer when the purple sprouting broccolli had not long been planted next to the strawberries!

http://groups.msn.com/AngelasPhotographicEmporium/gardenproject2005.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1668