A Healthy Veggie You’d Be Happy to Spy in Your Garden

The spring garden seed catalogs will soon be arriving daily in the mail with plentiful photos of spring flowers and vegetables in the back of the publication. Panhandle Florida’s gardeners have to make good use of their limited home garden space, a limitation which sometimes eliminates healthy choices in favor of colorful options.

Lucky gardeners who planted in the autumn can now have a tasty flower which is considered a green, if sometimes torturous to captive youth, vegetable. Broccoli florets are now ready for harvesting in many Florida panhandle gardens.

This distinctive member of the cabbage family has a long and storied past going back over 2,600 years. As a successful cold weather crop, it was sometimes the only fresh menu alternative in the days before modern transportation and marketing.

The green broccoli florets are ready for harvesting on plants which were installed in late autumn. There is still time, if the weather holds, to get another crop in before the temperatures turn too warm.

North Florida provides an ideal environment for growing broccoli. If planted in rich, well-drained soil and watered as needed, this vegetable is a high yield, low maintenance crop.

Usually, there is no freeze protection needed during the occasional dips below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. No insect treatments are needed during this period since the bugs are dormant.

In addition to its hardy winter nature, broccoli is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. It has a generous supply of vitamin C and many other nutrients.

Recent research has indicated this vegetable has compounds important to eye health and anti-cancer properties. Preparation methods can affect the availability of these health inducing compounds.

Broccoli is often served raw in salads or on snack trays. Additionally, it can be boiled, stir fried, microwaved or steamed.

In addition to ease of production and the health benefits, this vegetable has a connection to the cinematic spy James Bond, Special Agent 007, of the British Secret Service.

The early Bond movies were produced by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, whose ancestor was an Italian plant breeder. He helped refine the vegetable known today in America and Europe as broccoli. 

This variety is one of three commonly known broccoli varieties and is sometimes known as Calabrese broccoli. Other varieties are common to European and Asian consumers, but are rare in America as there is no consumer demand for them.

This vegetable originated in the northern Mediterranean region and slowly made its way to western Europe. It came to America with the influx of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century, but did not gain wide acceptance until the 1920’s.

Northeast Florida is home to commercial winter broccoli production and is a major domestic supplier in winter. Mexico supplies much of the western U.S. during winter.

California and other states move into fresh broccoli production when it is too warm in Florida.

Most of the world’s broccoli production occurs in China and India. Much of their crop is consumed locally as their diets contain a far higher percentage of vegetables.

About the author
Les Harrison

Les Harrison is a longtime resident of north Florida, having attended public schools in three counties. He has a Bachelor Degree from the University of Florida in Journalism and a Master’s of Science from Auburn University in Agricultural Economics. He is the author of more than 2000 newspaper and magazine stories and journal articles. During his career, he held positions in private, government and educational (university level) sectors. He holds the title of Extension Agent Emeritus. He can be reached at harrison.gl@gmail.com.

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