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Broccoli Crowns Delivery or Pickup
The Instacart guide to broccoli crowns
Order broccoli crowns through Instacart and make your day a little easier. Simply add broccoli crowns to your cart and enjoy same-day delivery or pickup in as little as 2 hours!
About broccoli crowns
Broccoli is a form of cabbage that belongs to the mustard family. It consists of a long stalk and edible flower buds that form clusters called florets. Broccoli crowns are the top part of the broccoli with the florets. They typically range from about 2.5 to 6 inches in diameter. They have short stems and no stalk.
Broccoli crowns are a delicious and nutritious vegetable. They're high in dietary fiber and various vitamins and minerals, such as folic acid, calcium, potassium, iron, and vitamins A, C, and K. Though most grocers carry broccoli crowns throughout the year, they are a cold-weather crop.
How to pick out broccoli crowns
Choose broccoli crowns with tiny, compact florets. Make sure they have an even, dark, bluish-green color. Sometimes, they have a purplish hue. Give your broccoli crowns a whiff to make sure they smell fresh.Â
When broccoli crowns are too mature, the bud clusters often take on a yellow tint. Discoloration tends to happen when the broccoli crowns are not stored properly or kept at the right temperature. Exposure to fruit that produces ethylene, such as apples or bananas, can speed up the maturation process in broccoli crowns. This also causes bud discoloration.
How to eat broccoli crowns
Broccoli crowns make a tasty meal when eaten either fresh or cooked. However, the cooking process locks in sulforaphane, a compound that helps prevent cancer and provides other health benefits. Eating broccoli crowns raw allows your body to absorb more sulforaphane. Many people remove the florets from broccoli crowns and cut them into smaller pieces to eat raw as a snack with their favorite dips, such as tzatziki or hummus. Others add raw broccoli crowns to pasta and salads or shred them to make coleslaw.
Even cooked, broccoli crowns are a healthy addition to any meal. Steaming them for about 4 to 5 minutes ensures they retain as many nutrients as possible. You can also roast bite-sized florets with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and other spices. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top for added flavor. Broccoli crowns are a popular ingredient in many Asian-style stir fry recipes. However, stir-frying removes more nutrients from the vegetable than other cooking styles. Sauteing and boiling broccoli crowns are other great ways to prepare this nutritious vegetable.
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FAQs about broccoli crowns
To begin, rinse the entire broccoli head in cold water. Then, place the head with its crown facing down on the cutting board and the stem pointing up toward you. Next, cut downward with your knife to separate the florets from the stem. Remember, the knife never needs to touch the dark-green buds. You only ever cut the stem.
Use your hands to pull the individual florets from the base or cut them off with a knife. An average, medium-sized broccoli that weighs about 9 ounces yields about 3.5 cups of florets.
Broccoli crowns come from a type of wild cabbage known as Brassica Oleracea. It grows naturally in the Mediterranean. An ancient Roman civilization first began to cultivate it about 2,600 years ago. Through selective breeding, they produced the first broccoli. Cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and brussels sprouts also come from this plant.
Records show broccoli was introduced in North America as early as the 1500s. Thomas Jefferson is said to have planted some of the first broccoli in the United States in the 1700s. However, the vegetable didn't become a mainstream food staple until Italian immigrants brought it to North America in the early 1900s.
The word broccoli comes from the Italian word "broccolo," meaning the flowering crest of a cabbage, and the Latin word "brocco," which means arm, branch, or shoot. Today, there are many different types of broccoli that grow all over the world, and China produces more broccoli than any other country.
If not properly stored, broccoli crowns go bad in just a day or two. Put your fresh crowns in a perforated plastic bag, and then store the bag inside the crisper section of your refrigerator. Broccoli crowns stored this way last for about seven to ten days. If you want your broccoli crowns to last longer, pop them in the freezer.
It's best to blanch broccoli crowns for a few minutes before freezing them. If you freeze raw broccoli crowns, they tend to shrivel up and dry out. Once blanched, place the crowns in cold water for a few minutes, then drain the water and pack them inside freezer bags. Frozen broccoli crowns keep for between eight and twelve months.