|
Broccoli is an edible green plant in the cabbage family whose large flowerhead is eaten as a vegetable. The word ''broccoli'' comes from the Italian plural of ', which means "the flowering crest of a cabbage", and is the diminutive form of ''brocco'', meaning "small nail" or "sprout". Broccoli is often boiled or steamed but may be eaten raw.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Broccoli Leaves Are Edible )〕 Broccoli is classified in the Italica cultivar group of the species ''Brassica oleracea''. Broccoli has large flower heads, usually green in color, arranged in a tree-like structure branching out from a thick, edible stalk. The mass of flower heads is surrounded by leaves. Broccoli resembles cauliflower, which is a different cultivar group of the same species. Broccoli is a result of careful breeding of cultivated leafy cole crops in the northern Mediterranean starting in about the 6th century BC. Since the time of the Roman Empire, broccoli has been considered a uniquely valuable food among Italians. Broccoli was brought to England from Antwerp in the mid-18th century by Peter Scheemakers.〔Smith,J.T. ''Nollekins and His Times'', 1829 vol. 2:101: "Scheemakers, on his way to England, visited his birth-place, bringing with him several roots of brocoli, a dish till then little known in perfection at our tables."〕 Broccoli was first introduced to the United States by Italian immigrants, but did not become widely known there until the 1920s. ==Varieties== There are three commonly grown types of broccoli. The most familiar is Calabrese broccoli, often referred to simply as "broccoli", named after Calabria in Italy. It has large (10 to 20 cm) green heads and thick stalks. It is a cool season annual crop. Sprouting broccoli has a larger number of heads with many thin stalks. Purple cauliflower is a type of broccoli sold in southern Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It has a head shaped like cauliflower, but consisting of tiny flower buds. It sometimes, but not always, has a purple cast to the tips of the flower buds. Other cultivar groups of ''Brassica oleracea'' include cabbage (Capitata Group), cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli (Botrytis Group), kale and collard greens (Acephala Group), kohlrabi (Gongylodes Group), Brussels sprouts (Gemmifera Group), and kai-lan (Alboglabra Group). Rapini, sometimes called "broccoli raab" among other names, forms similar but smaller heads, and is actually a type of turnip (''Brassica rapa''). Broccolini or "Tenderstem broccoli" is a cross between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. Beneforté is a variety of broccoli containing 2-3 times more glucoraphanin that was produced by crossing broccoli with a wild Brassica variety, ''Brassica oleracea'' var ''villosa''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About Beneforte )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「broccoli」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|