Broccoli Raab!

[daylilydude]

Has anyone grown this, please give the details about it, as the family and I love cooked greens!

[Deleted]

I will be growing this this year, but have eaten it for years. This is a traditional Italian dish.

[daylilydude]

So bsimmons, this is a leafy vegetable that taste like broccoli?

[littleminnie]

on Lydia Bastianich's show she went to the biggest broccoli raab farm in the country and they said they actually came up with and patented the name broccoli raab. Rapini is the correct name I guess. Lydia calls it broccoli di rapa.
I am probably trying it again both in spring and fall. My fall crop last year had bad germination. I see some varieties in catalogs that are fast and heat tolerant.
A vendor at market in fall brought broccoli raab and it was very leafy and not many buds. It was sweet though in November.

[Deleted]

I grow it every year. It is grown for the shoots and leafs. Also for the flowers.
Very cool season tolerant.
I have some planted outside in the yard now. There is no protection, it is wide open to the elements.
It will bolt when days get longer and warmer in the spring. Plant and care like it was broccoli.
It does not make broccoli heads.
Eat and harvest like any other green.

[desertrat]

I grow it here as a fall crop, it makes small shoots similar to broccoli side shoots, eat the stems leaves and shoots. Some blanch it to remove some of the "bitterness", I like bitter type greens so I don't blanch, I'm planting a variety I just got from sampleseeds that is supposed to be "heat tolerant". I'm going to plant some now and see how long it'll go before bolting, mine has grown to about 3 ft. tall and produces a lot, I also cook and freeze excess. I'll share seeds if you want some (with those dragon tongues?)

[daylilydude]

Ooooo... such small seeds, would/could this be started indoors then transplanted in the garden, and how close can the plants be planted?

[ladymarmalade]

I don't think that I'd try starting broccoli raab and then transplanting. It's one of the fastest to germinate and produce- you can harvest them at around 30-35 days. I love that about it- plant some broccoli raab and radishes, and you can have a delicious broccoli raab stir fry with a radish salad just one month after sowing.

Personally, I don't think they taste much like broccoli- it kind of has its own flavor. It is delicious and makes an excellent stir-fry. Be warned though, it goes to seed remarkably fast. Last year I completely missed my harvest time due to a vacation- came home and found a row of beautiful flowers instead of edible broccoli raab.

[Deleted]

I can't give details because I grew some 3 years ago, but I
do remember it tasted very good.

[desertrat]

Jan 23, 2012 18:59:12 GMT -5 daylilydude said:

Ooooo... such small seeds, would/could this be started indoors then transplanted in the garden, and how close can the plants be planted?

I planted mine too close together and thinned to about 18 in. apart as they got bigger than expected. I'd direct sow them now and you should get a good crop, for excess I blanch and freeze them. I heard that some people blanch them before stir frying to reduce the "bitter" flavor, I like bitter greens so I don't.

[desertrat]

Jan 23, 2012 18:59:12 GMT -5 daylilydude said:

Ooooo... such small seeds, would/could this be started indoors then transplanted in the garden, and how close can the plants be planted?

I planted mine too close together and thinned to about 18 in. apart as they got bigger than expected. I'd direct sow them now and you should get a good crop, for excess I blanch and freeze them. I heard that some people blanch them before stir frying to reduce the "bitter" flavor, I like bitter greens so I don't.