I have ordered the stainless steel stackable set plus broccoli sprout seeds all for under $65. I have a perfect kitchen window for them to green up and may just throw a kitchen towel over them for darkness while germinating. Thanks Dr Jill! I'm excited to start growing indoors. Too many hungry bunnies around here to grow anything outdoors not to mention an HOA from hell!
Once upon a time long long ago I did spend some time in the US, (a long story :) ) and I did come across that concept, and the difficulties they can cause. Come live in the UK . . . unheard of here :)
Ha! I don't know if that's so much the problem as the retirees that are given imaginary badges. There's a Mrs Kravitz in every neighborhood; some just more than others.
I am thinking about growing lettuce in a flower pot, though. That should keep them confused 😉
I put out ant traps (sweetened borax) around my aphid attracting plants. Ants are aphid cowboys, tending their flocks. I adore brassicas and use them as edible landscape plants.
My wife grew a bunch of broccoli this year for the first time and it looked beautiful. Unfortunately, a few weeks before it was ready to pick, as you noted, it became infested with those little white aphids. I guess those are some healthy little bugs!
With broccoli, as in life, we smile through the bitterness. And carry a small pocket mirror to ensure after lunch that it's not sprouting from the recesses between teeth.
Greetings from Michigan's Thumb Coast: Still frigid - 0F at 8am! As to mayonnaise on your broccoli salas: make your own or buy organic, made with olive oil or avocado oil; forgo the store-bought commercial brands, all of which contain not only highly processed seed oils but unnecessary additives. Slainte!
Just what I needed to nudge myself to use more broccoli! Last summer I ate a lot of various sprouts, this winter, not so much, hmm. Thanks for the boost!
Malone doesn’t mention it (or else I missed with my quick scan) but broccoli and the closely related Brassica family (cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) have some other attributes:
In addition to their vitamin and minerals, they are very low carb (and calorie). They are a favorite in Atkins and other keto diets.
Due to their high fiber content, a downside (or a benefit, perhaps for teenage boys) is that they are a gassy food. After eating a serving of broccoli, your microbiome will be delighted and will soon have you tooting away like an oompah band.
Other than the organic broccoli sprouts , are all organic broccoli items sold at good grocery stores “ Like Sprouts “ have the potential benefits described in the article?
Organic broccolini is available at our store as well as organic broccoli florettes, and a few other organic broccoli offerings. I’m just wondering if the regular broccoli type or organic items test clean for all the bad chemicals, etc. We could easily add organic broccoli items into our diet, locally, so any feedback on regular organic broccoli items would be helpful for me and my family. Thank you.
Finding organic broccoli, let alone sprouts, is a tall order. What is the best way to wash away residual pesticides? Is dish soap followed by soaking advisable or effective? Thanks for everything you both do!!
Running water was the the best answer I could find in a quantitative study. However, the study is for leafy vegetables, not broccoli. Surprising to me that detergent was ineffective as I thought many pesticides were oil based.
The percent reduction range for each method was 43.7–77.0%, and the reduction range for the five leafy vegetables was 40.6–67.4%. Lettuce had the highest reduction (67.4 ± 7.3%), whereas ssamchoo had the lowest reduction (40.6 ± 12.9%). Spinach and crown daisy showed no significant difference in their reductions. Based on reduction by method, running water (77.0 ± 18.0%) and boiling (59.5 ± 31.2%) led to the highest reduction, whereas detergent (43.7 ± 14.5%) led to the lowest reduction.
Thank you Jill! I love your article. The biggest problem growing sprouts for me is finding the right thing to grow in. If anyone has had success finding a good way to grow please share. Everything I've tried has been difficult to use for all of the same reasons listed as complaints in the Amazon reviews.
I'm going to try something new this year and hopefully it will be more successful at producing viable sprouts because I love sprouts and their importance as a healthy supplement.
The continual information stream from the Dr. Robert & Dr. Jill team is staggering in terms of quality and quantity. Refreshingly honest and useful. It exhausts to even THINK of the effort involved in their international work, US advisory work, homesteading farm work, etc. never mind the production of this newsletter.
But the caption for one photo in this newsletter suggests Dr. Jill may not always being properly credited as at least co-author or collaborator: "Above is the particular brand that Robert and I take (this is not a paid product endorsement), but a warning - broccoli seed extract isn’t cheap." This caption seems written from Dr. Jill's POV, but the by-line suggests Dr. Robert is sole author. Is Dr. Jill being given credit due?
This is Jill - I choose not to put my name on most of my writings. I really don't enjoy public speaking - for me, I like to remain in the background. But I often sign articles with my initials (no explanation) at the end if I remember - as I did in this one.
Robert and I pretty much co-write most of the stuff anyway. I edit his writing and he edits mine. We have done this for many years, but I never enjoy being the "front man."
Great article! Re stackable stainless-steel sprouting pans from Amazon, I'm concerned about 1-star reviews warning: "The biggest problem with this unit is that there is no ventilation, which results in your sprouts retaining moisture -even with very careful watering- and beginning to rot and stink within a couple days. At this point, they have also grown through the mesh bottom of the planting tray and embedded themselves firmly, which means that when you harvest them (even just to throw them out, as I had to), they tear apart, leaving you with sprouted leaves on one side and stems on the other. To make matters worse, since the sprouts embedded themselves in the mesh bottom, cleaning the trays requires scrubbing them with a Brillo pad on both sides and picking out the little pieces of torn sprouts to finally get the trays clean. All in all, much easier to grow your sprouts in a bell jar with a mesh lid. ... It rusted! So much for stainless steel. Also, the screens allow the roots and stems to grow through making clean up a bit difficult. The bigger seeds, such as peas and beans, are the only ones that the stems don't go through. This purchase has been disappointing. Sprout jars seem to work better."
My experience with these types of stacking units is the key is not to overcrowd the seeds and not to let them sit in too long. When they are finished growing, get them out and in the frig.
Easiest way I got my kids to eat broccoli - a long time family favorite recipe. Great side dish to bring to pot luck dinners.
Blend together in the personally preferred amounts with enough mayonnaise [or dressing to taste] to coat. Serve chilled
Chopped fresh broccoli
Chopped apples
Chopped walnuts
Cranberries
Like a Waldorf salad subbing broccoli for the celery. One of my favorites!
Yes!
I have ordered the stainless steel stackable set plus broccoli sprout seeds all for under $65. I have a perfect kitchen window for them to green up and may just throw a kitchen towel over them for darkness while germinating. Thanks Dr Jill! I'm excited to start growing indoors. Too many hungry bunnies around here to grow anything outdoors not to mention an HOA from hell!
Please excuse my ignorance; what the heck is a HOA?
Home owners association. Lucky you that this wasn't familiar.
Once upon a time long long ago I did spend some time in the US, (a long story :) ) and I did come across that concept, and the difficulties they can cause. Come live in the UK . . . unheard of here :)
A Napoleon complex is a prerequisite for anyone wanting to be an HOA president.
Ha! I don't know if that's so much the problem as the retirees that are given imaginary badges. There's a Mrs Kravitz in every neighborhood; some just more than others.
I am thinking about growing lettuce in a flower pot, though. That should keep them confused 😉
Same song, different verse.
I put out ant traps (sweetened borax) around my aphid attracting plants. Ants are aphid cowboys, tending their flocks. I adore brassicas and use them as edible landscape plants.
My wife grew a bunch of broccoli this year for the first time and it looked beautiful. Unfortunately, a few weeks before it was ready to pick, as you noted, it became infested with those little white aphids. I guess those are some healthy little bugs!
Thanks for the lesson on broccoli and broccoli sprouts, Jill. Good information!!
We love our broccoli, trees as the kids would call. And I’m a huge sprouter. These are great on salads. Thanks for the info on the health benefits.
With broccoli, as in life, we smile through the bitterness. And carry a small pocket mirror to ensure after lunch that it's not sprouting from the recesses between teeth.
Greetings from Michigan's Thumb Coast: Still frigid - 0F at 8am! As to mayonnaise on your broccoli salas: make your own or buy organic, made with olive oil or avocado oil; forgo the store-bought commercial brands, all of which contain not only highly processed seed oils but unnecessary additives. Slainte!
Do you have a good mayo recipe?
MAYO
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tb lemon/lime juice
1 cup avocado oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Add all ingredients to to narrow jar
Give the oil time to separate on top
Press the stick blender to the bottom and run for 10-15 seconds
Once the mayo starts to emulsify and thicken slowly move the stick blender up and down to fully combine the ingredients.
Put in fridge. Keeps for several weeks.
Sometimes I add a few drops of fish sauce and a drop of sherry if I am using the mayo for fish.
Just what I needed to nudge myself to use more broccoli! Last summer I ate a lot of various sprouts, this winter, not so much, hmm. Thanks for the boost!
Malone doesn’t mention it (or else I missed with my quick scan) but broccoli and the closely related Brassica family (cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) have some other attributes:
In addition to their vitamin and minerals, they are very low carb (and calorie). They are a favorite in Atkins and other keto diets.
Due to their high fiber content, a downside (or a benefit, perhaps for teenage boys) is that they are a gassy food. After eating a serving of broccoli, your microbiome will be delighted and will soon have you tooting away like an oompah band.
Other than the organic broccoli sprouts , are all organic broccoli items sold at good grocery stores “ Like Sprouts “ have the potential benefits described in the article?
Organic broccolini is available at our store as well as organic broccoli florettes, and a few other organic broccoli offerings. I’m just wondering if the regular broccoli type or organic items test clean for all the bad chemicals, etc. We could easily add organic broccoli items into our diet, locally, so any feedback on regular organic broccoli items would be helpful for me and my family. Thank you.
Finding organic broccoli, let alone sprouts, is a tall order. What is the best way to wash away residual pesticides? Is dish soap followed by soaking advisable or effective? Thanks for everything you both do!!
Running water was the the best answer I could find in a quantitative study. However, the study is for leafy vegetables, not broccoli. Surprising to me that detergent was ineffective as I thought many pesticides were oil based.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9498324/#sec3-foods-11-02916
The percent reduction range for each method was 43.7–77.0%, and the reduction range for the five leafy vegetables was 40.6–67.4%. Lettuce had the highest reduction (67.4 ± 7.3%), whereas ssamchoo had the lowest reduction (40.6 ± 12.9%). Spinach and crown daisy showed no significant difference in their reductions. Based on reduction by method, running water (77.0 ± 18.0%) and boiling (59.5 ± 31.2%) led to the highest reduction, whereas detergent (43.7 ± 14.5%) led to the lowest reduction.
Great article, and my wife and I love broccoli, especially in stir fry combinations.
Thank you Jill! I love your article. The biggest problem growing sprouts for me is finding the right thing to grow in. If anyone has had success finding a good way to grow please share. Everything I've tried has been difficult to use for all of the same reasons listed as complaints in the Amazon reviews.
I'm going to try something new this year and hopefully it will be more successful at producing viable sprouts because I love sprouts and their importance as a healthy supplement.
The continual information stream from the Dr. Robert & Dr. Jill team is staggering in terms of quality and quantity. Refreshingly honest and useful. It exhausts to even THINK of the effort involved in their international work, US advisory work, homesteading farm work, etc. never mind the production of this newsletter.
But the caption for one photo in this newsletter suggests Dr. Jill may not always being properly credited as at least co-author or collaborator: "Above is the particular brand that Robert and I take (this is not a paid product endorsement), but a warning - broccoli seed extract isn’t cheap." This caption seems written from Dr. Jill's POV, but the by-line suggests Dr. Robert is sole author. Is Dr. Jill being given credit due?
This is Jill - I choose not to put my name on most of my writings. I really don't enjoy public speaking - for me, I like to remain in the background. But I often sign articles with my initials (no explanation) at the end if I remember - as I did in this one.
Robert and I pretty much co-write most of the stuff anyway. I edit his writing and he edits mine. We have done this for many years, but I never enjoy being the "front man."
Thanks for the explanation. So, it has been like this for years, but this is the first time I noticed.
Which reminds me, "Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law." (Voltaire)
Great article! Re stackable stainless-steel sprouting pans from Amazon, I'm concerned about 1-star reviews warning: "The biggest problem with this unit is that there is no ventilation, which results in your sprouts retaining moisture -even with very careful watering- and beginning to rot and stink within a couple days. At this point, they have also grown through the mesh bottom of the planting tray and embedded themselves firmly, which means that when you harvest them (even just to throw them out, as I had to), they tear apart, leaving you with sprouted leaves on one side and stems on the other. To make matters worse, since the sprouts embedded themselves in the mesh bottom, cleaning the trays requires scrubbing them with a Brillo pad on both sides and picking out the little pieces of torn sprouts to finally get the trays clean. All in all, much easier to grow your sprouts in a bell jar with a mesh lid. ... It rusted! So much for stainless steel. Also, the screens allow the roots and stems to grow through making clean up a bit difficult. The bigger seeds, such as peas and beans, are the only ones that the stems don't go through. This purchase has been disappointing. Sprout jars seem to work better."
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B08CZKKYDD/ref=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star
My experience with these types of stacking units is the key is not to overcrowd the seeds and not to let them sit in too long. When they are finished growing, get them out and in the frig.
As it had 650 positive reviews, and 42 negative - (about 90% positive) 4.3 our of 5 stars overall - I went with that.