In Season Now (Maryland)

Broccoli and Cabbage are now in season! Keep a lookout for these items to start popping up in Maryland’s 145 farmers markets! And here are a few tips to help you shop and prepare these fresh fruits and veggies.

Broccoli and Broccoli Rabe

• Choose firm, tight, dark green broccoli heads.
• Avoid woody-edged stalks. If the skin of the stalk is tough, peel it.
• Broccoli rabe is more bitter than broccoli, with slender stalks and smaller bud clusters.
• When preparing broccoli and broccoli rabe, cook it just long enough to make them tender, usually 10 minutes or less. Prolonged cooking turns the delicate green buds mushy and produces an increasingly strong and unpleasant sulfurous aroma. 

Cabbage

• Comes in several forms, from dense green or purple heads to pale and light Asian napa.
• As with broccoli, cook cabbage just long enough to make it tender.
• To speed cooking, cut heads into halves or quarters, or chop or shred.
• Te keep red or purple cabbage from turning blue, cook with an acidic ingredient such as wine, vinegar or apples.
• To make a crisp salad of raw cabbage, soak the chopped or shredded leaves in ice water before dressing them.

Source: Keys To Good Cooking By Harold McGee

Tagged as: cabbage. broccoli. ingredients. tips. techniques. broccoli rabe.