Broccoli

One of the rewards of living with a man who enjoys gardening is that there is always something good to eat.  It also means that there is help with the veggies.  I ran across a deal on broccoli plants this year and got some which were fairly mature at the new local gardening center, Nature's Best Nursery, Lawn, and Landscape.  Plus, I got some smaller plants from Mike's son and daughter-in-law's place, Bonnie's Barnyard.  My thoughts were that we would have broccoli in stages.  I guess in a way we did.  Mike and I have eaten fresh broccoli three or four times already but the rest of it seemed to mature and be ready to harvest all of a sudden this week.

Here are some of the beautiful bunches of broccoli from our garden!

So, knowing that I would be lazy this morning and not want to dress and go out into the heat, I cut all of the big heads which were ready yesterday just before darkness fell on our little plantation.  It filled this big green five-gallon bucket about two-thirds full.

I filled the big green bucket full of salt water because I had seen some places which looked as if there was a varmint nibbling on the heads - the biggest ones, of course.  Yick!  Being lazy, I let the broccoli soak in the bucket of salt water overnight.  Then, this morning I dumped the water and broccoli into the sink and began rinsing it thoroughly.  Several of these green worms floated out.  They don't like salt water.  However, some of them were tenacious and clung to the stems and I had to pick them off.  Double YICK! 

Where is that special husband when this squirmy, yicky part takes place?

After I was pretty sure I had eradicated the worms with lots of rinsing, I began to chop it up into little bite-sized pieces because I don't like that big stalk.  There is something about the texture of it that makes it hard for me to swallow. 

Again, I rinsed thoroughly to remove the salt (since I'm on a low sodium diet) and any sneaky worms.  Then, I gently packed it into bags to freeze. 

It really is all a lovely blue-green color.  I guess the camera flash caused a glare.

I'm always surprised at how much turns out when we harvest something.  Broccoli is something that doesn't make nearly as much as I dream it will.  For example, I only got three full pint bags and enough for tonight's dinner out of that whole big bucket.  A bit disappointing. 

Of course, broccoli isn't something of which I need a gargantuan amount.  It is not something my whole family will want to share, anyway.  My son recently told me that as far as he is concerned, "It is official.  There is NO WAY to prepare broccoli to make it taste good."  He's had it steamed, boiled, baked, smothered in cheese, drizzled with butter, raw, and recently tasted it battered and fried and it "still tastes nasty!" 

I know it will taste delicious when I steam it or cook it up in a casserole or soup, though!

You'll find some options here:  Recipes From Out of the Blue