broccoli Facts For Kids

Farmers around the world grow a lot of broccoli. In 2023 people produced about 26.5 million tonnes of broccoli and cauliflower together. Most of it comes from a few big countries: China and India make about 65% of the world’s total.

Other countries also grow broccoli. The United States, Mexico, and Spain each produce around one million tonnes or less. In the U.S., California is the main producer: it grows broccoli all year and makes about 92% of the nation’s crop, much of which is sold fresh in stores.

Broccoli is a green vegetable that you can eat raw or cooked. It belongs to the cabbage family, so it is related to cabbage, kale, and cauliflower. Broccoli has many small flowering heads called florets. These florets grow like tiny trees on a thick, light-green stalk. People often snap off the florets or slice the stalk to cook or eat them in salads.

Broccoli gives you important nutrients, especially vitamin C and vitamin K. Some nutrients wash out if you boil broccoli for a long time, so steaming, microwaving, or stir-frying keep more of the good stuff. One plant called rapini, or broccoli rabe, looks a bit like broccoli but is actually a different kind of plant.

Some people find broccoli a little bitter because of chemicals called glucosinolates and sulfur compounds. A gene named TAS2R38 helps explain why some people taste bitterness more strongly — genes are tiny instructions in your body that can change how food tastes to you.

Broccoli plants also have garden enemies. The caterpillars of the small white butterfly (called Pieris rapae) are common pests and were accidentally moved to new places long ago. Other pests include aphids, cabbage loopers, and diamondback moths. Farmers use safe methods like nets, friendly insects, and careful checking by hand to protect the plants. Have you ever tasted bitter broccoli or seen a caterpillar on a plant?

Brassica oleracea var. italica is the scientific name for the garden broccoli people eat. That long name tells scientists it is in the cabbage family (Brassicaceae) and part of the Brassica group of plants. Broccoli comes from the same wild cabbage ancestors as many other vegetables.

People began calling it broccoli from the Italian word "broccolo," which means the flowering top of a cabbage. "Brocco" is a smaller word that means a sprout or small shoot. Scientists first wrote down broccoli’s formal name in 1794 when they began classifying many plants.

Broccoli began in the northern Mediterranean region more than two thousand years ago. Farmers there selected plants from wild cabbage to grow bigger, tastier flower heads. By the time of the Roman Empire, people were already growing early forms of broccoli in places like southern Italy and Sicily.

Broccoli slowly spread north into Europe and, later, to other parts of the world. Italian immigrants brought it to North America in the 1800s. In the 1900s, plant breeders in the United States and Japan crossed different kinds of broccoli to make newer types that grow faster and give larger heads, with names like "Premium Crop" and "Packman."

Raw broccoli is mostly water, with some carbohydrates and a little protein. A cup of chopped raw broccoli (about 100 grams) gives around 34 kilocalories — that’s a small amount of energy for your body. Broccoli is a rich source of vitamin C and vitamin K, so it helps your body in a few important ways.

Broccoli also contains beta-carotene and glucosinolates, which are natural plant compounds. How you cook broccoli changes these compounds: boiling can lower glucosinolate levels, while steaming, microwaving, or quick stir-frying keeps more of them and keeps the vegetable crisp and bright.

Calabrese broccoli is the common kind you see in stores. The plant grows about two to three feet tall and has a large central head made of many dark-green florets sitting on a thick edible stalk. Some rare kinds have violet, yellow, or white heads. Broccoli flowers are small and yellow when they open, but farmers harvest the heads while the flowers are still closed buds.

There are a few main types: Calabrese (big heads and thick stalks), sprouting broccoli (many thin stalks with lots of small heads, in white or purple), and purple cauliflower (looks like cauliflower but has tiny buds and sometimes purple tips). A newer variety called Beneforté was made by crossing broccoli with a wild cousin and contains more of a natural healthy compound.

Broccoli grows best in cool weather, so farmers plant it in spring or fall when days are not too hot. It likes steady temperatures that help the plants make a large, tight head. The head is actually a cluster of tiny green flower buds, and it should be picked before those buds open and turn yellow.

Harvesters cut the main head by hand about one inch (25 mm) down the stem. People harvest by hand so they can choose the best heads without hurting the rest of the plant. After the main head is cut, many plants grow smaller side shoots that can be picked later.