Oh, Broccoli!

Were you the kind of kid who always tried to get out of eating your broccoli no matter how many times your parents insisted they were dinosaur trees? Well, you're not alone. One president of the United States hated this vegetable so much he banned it from the White House!

Keep reading to learn more surprising stories about this vegetable and how it ended up on your plate (whether you like it or not).

Your Great-Great-Great Grandparents Probably Didn't Eat Broccoli

You might have been told to eat your broccoli your whole life, but did you know it's a fairly new crop to American consumers? Broccoli wasn't commercially grown here until 1924, when the first ice-packed crop was shipped east from California. Broccoli didn't become a crop of any significance in the United States until after World War II. Consumption of broccoli has jumped almost 950 percent during the last 25 years.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, was ahead of his time in many ways. A fan of broccoli, he imported broccoli seeds from Italy to plant at Monticello as early as May of 1767.

Broccoli Is Man-Made... Kind Of

Broccoli originated in the Mediterranean region. It's actually a human invention. The ancient Etruscans (Romans before there was a Rome), engineered broccoli from a wild cabbage relative in the 6th Century BCE. The veggie stuck around and was enjoyed by the Ancient Romans.

This explains why broccoli leaves look so much like cabbage, kale, and mustard greens leaves—they all came from the same plant originally.

Broccoli Is One of the Healthiest Vegetables You Can Eat

This vegetable really is so, so good for you. Let's look at some broccoli nutrition facts:

• Want something high in Vitamin C but don't feel like eating fruit? Just one cup of raw, chopped broccoli has the same amount of Vitamin C as an orange—that's your entire daily need.
• One ounce of this super veggie has an equal amount of calcium as one ounce of milk. 
• Broccoli is high in Vitamin A, which helps fight cancer within your cells and keeps your eyes healthy by staving off glaucoma and other degenerative eye diseases.
• Broccoli also helps to promote healthy skin, break down urinary stones, and maintain healthy bones and teeth. 
• As you probably also know, broccoli is high in fiber. Not just soluble fiber but insoluble, as well. Since your body needs both types, it's great to know that broccoli can fulfill all of your fiber needs. 
• Finally, broccoli contains the flavonoid kaempferol, an anti-inflammatory that helps fight against cancer and heart disease, and that has been shown to be preventative in adult diabetes onset.

If all of those nutritional benefits aren’t enough to get you to start eating broccoli, I don’t know what will!

Broccoli Is Both a Vegetable and a Flower

That's right: Humans consume the immature flowers of several plants as vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, and Brussels sprouts. Technically speaking, broccoli isn't one flower—it's thousands of flowers called an inflorescence. If you were to leave the broccoli head on the plant longer, each of those tiny green buds would open up and become a beautiful yellow flower.

The goal when you grow your own broccoli is to harvest once you have a decent-sized head but before the little florets begin to open up. Unless, that is, you're growing broccoli for the bees because they absolutely love those yellow flowers.

"Broccoli" Means the "Flowering Top of Cabbage"

The name "broccoli" is Italian for "the flowering top of cabbage" or "cabbage projection". Broccoli was referred to as “Italian asparagus" when it was first introduced to England in the mid-eighteenth century.

Most of Our Broccoli Is Currently Grown in Just One Place

Although it may be known as the "Golden State", California produces 90 percent of our nation’s broccoli. Considering that California also holds the title of “Kale Growing Capital", maybe we should rename California the "Green State.” Arizona and Texas finish out the top three broccoli-producing states, but produce less than 10 percent of production in the United States.

The reason so much broccoli is grown in California is due to temperature. Throughout this plant's history, it hasn't really been possible to grow broccoli in warmer weather. That could be changing.

A team of plant scientists at Cornell University are working to create a new version that can thrive in hot, steamy summers and that is easy and inexpensive to grow in large volumes. “If you’ve had really fresh broccoli, you know it’s an entirely different thing,” lead scientist Thomas Bjorkman said. “And if the health-policy goal is to vastly increase the consumption of broccoli, then we need a ready supply, at an attractive price.”

This new broccoli is just a part of the scientific mad dash to remake much of the produce aisle. The goal is to help shift American attitudes toward fruits and vegetables by increasing their allure and usefulness in cooking, while maintaining or even increasing their nutritional loads.

Two years of successful trials have made the hot-weather broccoli plants ready for farming, though it may be several more years before East Coast grocers start selling the local florets. This perfect broccoli may challenge a purist's view of food. Critics are generally fine with the science, which involves fairly traditional forms of biotechnology, like using petri dishes to mate broccoli with radishes and other plants that would never hook up on their own, and selecting genes through this breeding that can minimize production costs and maximize consumer appeal.

What are your thoughts? Would you rather eat modified broccoli that is grown locally or eat old-school broccoli trucked from California?

Broccoli Is a Little Bit More Nutritious Than Cauliflower

Let's look at how they stack up.

• Broccoli has a little bit more protein than cauliflower.
• Broccoli has more fiber, almost double the calcium, and also close to double the amount of vitamin C. 
• As far as iron, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorous, broccoli has a slight edge. 
• Cauliflower has a bit more potassium and folate though. 
• Broccoli contains 11% of your daily vitamin A, while cauliflower has none.
• Finally, one cup of broccoli gives you more vitamin K than you need in a day. Because of this high amount of vitamin K, broccoli may interfere with blood-thinning medications.

Although both vegetables are packed with nutrients and are very good for you, broccoli is the clear winner because of its protein, calcium, and vitamin C amounts. When in doubt, chose broccoli, the Tony Stark of vegetables.

You Can Grow your Own Broccoli in Just 14 Days

It's true. You just won't be getting the part you're used to eating. You'll be getting teeny tiny leaves. Microgreens. (The full broccoli head will take you closer to 120 days to grow from seed.)

Broccoli microgreens are really easy to grow, and the incredible part is they contain all the nutrition of a full-grown plant.

Toss these broccoli microgreens on soups, salads, casseroles, and baked potatoes.

Broccoli Really Does Give You Gas

Ready to learn the science behind broccoli and gas? I’m sure your 10-year-old-self will find this interesting…

Intestinal gas is usually caused by either taking too much air into your digestive tract or by bacteria breaking down food in your intestine, which is the case with broccoli. This happens, primarily, because of the presence of a sugar in broccoli called raffinose. Humans lack the enzyme to break down raffinose, which means it doesn't get broken down in the small intestine. Instead, raffinose gets passed down to the large intestine, where bacteria attempt to break it down as much as possible. This process can produce a lot of gas, particularly if you aren't used to eating foods with raffinose in them.

Supplements that contain the enzyme alpha-galactosidase can break down the raffinose in broccoli, which can potentially help prevent gas formation, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. You can also help your stomach learn how to better digest raffinose by eating more foods high in raffinose, which include beans (the magical fruit!), cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus.

Broccoli Is Not Universally Disliked by Children

According to this interview with the director of Pixar's Inside Out, they had to change the scene where a little girl throws a tantrum instead of eating her broccoli at dinner for the Japanese version. Why? Because Japanese children tend to like broccoli, so the original scene wouldn't have been relatable for them. (Interestingly enough, broccoli was actually replaced with a green bell pepper for the Japanese edit.)

I hope you learned a little more about these green florets that are becoming more and more popular. Maybe now you'll be more inspired to eat your broccoli!

I love telling surprising stories about the food we eat over on the Grow Your Self podcast, so if you haven't checked it out already, give us a follow!