Brassica shoots
They come by many different names: fleurettes, rabe, rappini, and sprouts. You’re familiar with the cultivated varieties manifesting on supermarket shelves as broccolini and sprouting broccoli, but the whole brassica family produces fleurettes prior to the flowering stage. These tender shoots and flower buds are nutritious early season vegetables that can be cooked or enjoyed raw. Often more fibrous than leafy greens, be sure to harvest them before the flowering stage when the stems become woody. When harvested as emergent shoots, these tender greens can side many protein mains or comprise the bulk in stand alone salads and other dishes. Try these cooking options below to wow with brassica shoots.
Brassica shoots are best in the early spring after plants have wintered over and are waking up in the longer warmer days. If you’re planting cabbage, kale, turnips, or broccolini in the summer and harvesting through the winter, it’s likely that the plants you don’t harvest will make it through the cold months and be ready as shoots in March and April. Some even have excellent flowers usually referred to as raab that are good garnishes on salads and common accoutrements on fish fillets.
