Broccoli and Broccolini

The edible part of broccoli includes the flower head, the stalk, and the small, attached leaves. Occasionally, the flower head blooms into tiny yellow flowers after harvesting, especially when stored near fruits like apples that produce ethylene, a plant-ripening hormone. It’s still edible.

Broccolini, or baby broccoli, is a hybrid of broccoli and gai lan (Chinese broccoli). It was developed by the Sakata Seed Corporation in Japan. Both broccoli and broccolini can be cooked by the same methods of stir-frying, steaming, boiling, roasting, and grilling. Rapini, or broccoli rabe, is not a type of broccoli but a variety of turnip, another member of the brassica family (in case you’re wondering about the absence of turnips in this section, they’re one of the few vegetables I avoid, as I dislike their smell).