Brassica oleracea italica x alboglabra

Brassica oleracea (Italica x Alboglabra Group)

Brassicaceae

Asparation, Asparations, Baby Broccoli, Bimi, Broccolette, Broccoletti, Broccolini, Sweet Baby Broccoli, Tenderstem, Tenderstem Broccoli

The hybrid cultivar was developed by the Sakata Seed Company of Yokohama, Japan, in 1993 and named ‘aspabroc’. In 1994, Sakata Seed Company in partnership with Sanbon Incorporated began growing ‘aspabroc’ commercially in Mexico under the name Asparation®. Asparation® first appeared in US markets in 1996. In 1998, Mann Packing Company in collaboration with Sakata Seed Company began marketing ‘Aspabroc’ throughout the United States under the name Broccolini.

Broccolini is a cool climate crop, sharing the same agroecological requirements as broccoli. It is intolerant of temperature extremes and is more sensitive to cold temperatures than broccoli and is more tolerant of slightly higher temperatures than broccoli.

The entire vegetable (leaves, tender young stems, unopened flowering shoots and flowers) is consumable. Broccolini is usually sold as the young tender unopened flowering shoot of 15–20 cm length; some supermarket chains allow a maximum of four opened flowers in the unopened flowering shoot product. Broccolini’s flavour is sweet, with notes of both broccoli and asparagus. Broccolini can be sauteed, steamed, boiled, roasted, grilled and stir-fried. Broccolini makes a great appetizer, pasta or risotto ingredient and pizza topping. Broccolini’s flavour goes well with butter, olive oil, light-bodied vinegars, lemon, lime, garlic, tomatoes, chillies, cured meats such as pancetta and prosciutto, barbecued meat, flaky white fish, hard cheeses (parmesan and pecorino) or fresh cheeses (chevre and feta).

The plant has a structure similar to the sprouting type of broccoli. It is erect, annual or biennial, herbaceous and glabrous up to 80 cm high with an elongated slender, green stem, 15–30 cm long, branching at the top with relatively small, loosely arranged racemose heads. Leaves alternate, petiolate, simple, ovate to ovate-oblong, 40–50 × 30–40 cm, pinnatipartite or lobed with undulating, shallowly dentate margin, grey-green or blue green. The racemose flower heads are fully exposed from an early stage on slender rachis and peduncles unlike the heading or calabrese broccoli with larger compact head and thick peduncle and rachis. Flowers tetramerous; bisexual; four green sepals; four yellow, spatulate petals; six stamens, four long and two short; superior, two-loculed ovary. Fruit a slender silique with 10–30 subglobose seeds.