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A Scientist's Quest For Perfect Broccoli
HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes "For all the wonders of fresh broccoli, in most parts of the country it is only available from local growers during the cooler weeks at either end of the growing season, nowhere near long enough to become a fixture in grocery stores or kitchens. But now Michael Moss writes in the NY Times that Thomas Bjorkman is out to change all that by creating a new version of the plant that can thrive in hot, steamy summers like those in New York, South Carolina or Iowa and is easy and inexpensive enough to grow in large volumes. And Bjorkman's quest doesn't stop there: His crucifer is also crisp, subtly sweet and utterly tender when eaten fresh-picked and aims to maximize the concentration of glucoraphanin, a mildly toxic compound used by plants to fight insects that in humans may stimulate our bodies' natural chemical defenses to aid in preventing cancer and warding off heart disease. The Eastern Broccoli Project's goal is to create a regional food network for an increasingly important and nutritious vegetable that may serve as a model network for other specialty crops to help shift American attitudes toward fruits and vegetables by increasing their allure and usefulness in cooking, while increasing their nutritional loads. 'If you've had really fresh broccoli, you know it's an entirely different thing,' says Bjorkman, a plant scientist at Cornell University. 'And if the health-policy goal is to vastly increase the consumption of broccoli, then we need a ready supply, at an attractive price.'"
Obama claims broccoli is his favorite food
Quite a contrast to President George HW Bush: 'I'm President,' So No More Broccoli!
It was a proclamation that every child, and many adults, have dreamed of making.
President Bush declared today that he never, ever, wants to see another sprig of broccoli on his plate, whether he is on Air Force One or at the White House or anywhere else in the land.
''I do not like broccoli,'' the President said, responding to queries about a broccoli ban he has imposed aboard Air Force One, first reported this week in U.S. News and World Report. ''And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!''
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
... eat Romanesco broccoli.
Dr. Hibbert: Another broccoli-related death.
Marge: But I thought broccoli was...
Dr. Hibbert: Oh yes. One of the deadliest plants on earth. It tries to warn you itself with its terrible taste.
Broccoli is already patented by Monsanto.
We're not talking about a genetically mutilated Monsanto broccoli, but they patented open source broccoli.
http://www.realfarmacy.com/monsanto-patent-on-natural-broccoli-seeds/
Privacy is terrorism.
...in most parts of the country it is only available from local growers during the cooler weeks at either end of the growing season...
What country is this you speak of? AFAIK broccoli is on the shelves of my local stores pretty much all year. Sure, it's imported from somewhere insanely far away like China or Africa or Tierra del Fuego half the time, but it's there.
Not that I eat it, mind you. It's on the banned list, like Brussels sprouts. As Nicholas Freeling said about British peas, all I can suggest is that it be put into concrete barrels with radioactive waste and the Mafia, and sunk in the ocean.
--
"I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed inter-state commerce." -- J Edgar Hoover
Just make sure you've had it done right before writing it off entirely. If all you've ever had was over boiled green goo, then it'll be easy to assume you don't like broccoli, but cooked so that it is firm yet tender in a good stir fry, or in any other of the many right ways to do it, broccoli's good stuff. Maybe you really don't like it, I just hope you've fairly evaluated it before coming to that decision.
First take a beef patty and grill it over a charcoal or propane grill for 8 minutes, 4 on each side. While doing that toast a hamburger bun. Rest the patty for a minute, put on the bun and dress with some ketchup, mustard, a few pickles and some cheese.(Lettuce, onion, and tomatoes are optional.) Then take the broccoli and throw it to the rabbits in your backyard so you'll have some cute bunnies to watch while you eat your burger. (Oh, a don't forget to have a beer or coke while you're enjoying that perfect broccoli.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
It's not the bitter taste, it's the sulphurous, garbage dump like stink that some just don't seem to perceive.
Supertasters, approximately a quarter of the world's population, have the ability to taste PROP and PTC, finding them incredibly bitter while the rest of the population cannot taste them at all. (Supertasters have other differences from non-supertasters, too, including a larger number of fungiform papillae on the surface of the tongue.)
Plants of the Brassica family, which includes broccoli (as well as cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts) contain a compound similar to PTC. People who like broccoli are living in a genetic world supertasters can only dream of; even the smell of the Brassica family is immediately repulsive to supertasters. This is believed due to the genotypes they carry of the TAS2R38 gene, which codes for a bitter taste receptor.
Frankly, I don't think Dr. Bjorkman's work will be done unless he gets the PTC-related compounds out of broccoli.