Aspabroc, is the original Broccolini(TM). It is a hybrid of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra) also known as Chinese broccoli or Gai Lan. The broccolini hybrid was first developed in 1993 by Sakata Seed Company in Yokohama, Japan. It is similar to Broccoli Rabe in appearance but Broccoli Rabe or Rapini, as it is known in Italy, is more closely related to turnips and has a bitter flavor. Aspabroc is so called because the flavor of the small heads tastes like broccoli and the stems ‘eat’ like asparagus. It is not, in any way, related to Asparagus, which is in the Lily family, while broccoli is a member of the Brassica family. However it is closer in appearance to the original broccoli than the broccoli offered at market today which is a cultivar that traces its roots to a variety first developed in the region of Calabria in the very southern tip of the Italian peninsula and is classed as Calabrese broccoli.
Throughout most of its history, broccoli has been a relatively obscure vegetable characterized by small heads of a, preferably, purple coloration. The large green heads characteristic of Calabrese broccoli were first introduced to this country by Italian immigrants in the 1880’s but remained unique to Italian communities until after WWII when refrigeration made it possible to easily ship this somewhat delicate member of the cabbage family. It became the ubiquitous vegetable that it is today in the 1980’s when consumption of broccoli quadrupled.
If we go all the way back to the origin story for broccoli, it appears that it was Italian gardeners (long the consummate European gardeners) who were responsible for creating the first distinct forms of broccoli. It was developed from the Chou cavalier, a tall, open form of Cabbage, similar to Tall Curled Kale. The earliest unambiguous description of Broccoli in Northern Europe that I have found, is recorded by the Frenchman Jacques Daléchamps in the 16th century. The first reference to broccoli by an English author came in John Evelyn’s Acetaria (1699) who called it The Broccoli from Naples. Evelyn fled England to France during Cromwell’s reign and much of his writing reflects his experience in France so this reference does not necessarily indicate that broccoli had been introduced to England by this date. Philip Miller in The gardeners and florists dictionary (1724) referred to it by the names colli-flower or Italian Asparagus. Cauliflower and broccoli are closely related; the difference being, nearly all of the florets in a head of broccoli will open if left in the garden for too long while very few of the florets in a head of cauliflower will ever open (which is what gives cauliflower its curd-like appearance).
A New System of Agriculture, first published by John Laurence in Dublin in 1726, recorded: The Brocauli is an Italian Plant, brought lately from Rome by the present Earl of Burlington, who has given it a Reputation among those who love Novelties… it requires a particular Management, and therefore particular Directions. Many ignorant of the Plant, will be sowing it in the Spring; but it should not be sown till about Midsummer, and not much after…that it may attain Strength to get over the Winter. The original forms of broccoli exhibited the biennial flowering habit typical of most members of the Brassica genus meaning the plants must go over the winter to form their florets.
The following year Stephen Switzer wrote in Practical Kitchen Gardener (1727), that broccoli has been, till within these few years, a stranger in England. He also writes that the seed comes from Venice or Naples and calls it Italian Asparagus. This reference to asparagus is repeated by all authors after this time. Many authors list a wide variety of colors for broccoli, usually arising spontaneously from the seed of open pollinated plants but the purple and white are the most common as recorded by Rutter and Carter in Modern Eden (1767):
There are two principal kinds of broccoli, the purple and the white. The purple is the best. Hanbury agrees in A complete body of planting and gardening (1773): The Purple Broccoli is the most delicate of all the sorts, and admits of several varieties; such as the Green, the Brown, the Blue, and others of different tints, which will all rise from the same seed, if it is not properly saved. The Purple is called the best sort, and is that colour the Gardener is ambitious of preserving his Broccoli: The others, especially the Green and the Yellowish-coloured, are looked upon as spurious, and frequently thrown away.
By the third quarter of the 18th century early season forms of broccoli began to appear that would produce florets in the autumn from spring sown seeds. Hanbury recorded in 1773: The Early Broccoli has been but lately introduced into our gardens and records that seed sown in March will yield sprouts in September. While fall harvests are recorded by most authors after this time, the spring remains the preferred crop as recorded by Abercrombe in The garden made mecum (1790): The season of their perfection is October, November, and December, &c. for the Autumn and Winter crop; but rather superior in size, in Spring, from February till May.
Broccoli arrived in Virginia at a surprisingly early date. William Hugh Grove kept a diary in Tidewater, Virginia in 1732 and recorded seeing in Virginia gardens: Curl’d Savoys are Plenty but few Colyflowers or Hartichoak tho the Gentry sometimes raise a few & have very lately tried Brocoli. John Randolph, author of this country's first garden book, A Treatise on Gardening (probably first compiled in the 1760’s in Williamsburg) recorded: The Roman Brocoli is the proper sort to cultivate, otherwise called the Italian Brocoli; saying that they will have purple heads and observed: The stems will eat like Asparagus and the heads like Cauliflowers.
In my experience, both Aspabroc and purple sprouting broccoli are as sweet or sweeter than the modern large headed broccoli and the stems are equally tender and delicious. However, unlike the ancient broccoli, aspabroc is an annual plant that can be sown in both the spring and fall, though I have found that the fall sowing produces consistently larger heads, particularly after the initial heads are cut.
The great inconvenience with both Aspabroc and purple sprouting broccoli is that they need to be picked nearly daily when the season is at its peak. The individual advantages to Aspabroc and the purple broccoli are that the Aspabroc seems to have longer, tenderer stems while the purple sprouting produces consistently larger florets. Because the ancient broccoli must go over the winter for a spring harvest, I plan to grow Aspabroc in the fall and winter as a greenhouse crop and, at the same time, sow the purple sprouting broccoli out of doors for a spring harvest.
While we are speaking of asparagus, I recently realized, when we had some visitors to the garden, that the manner of its growth is not familiar to everyone, so in deference to those who have never seen asparagus grow, allow me to explain that at this time of year, what you see in the garden are large, wispy fronds of mature foliage. The asparagus that is so prized at the table earlier in the earlier in the year are the new stems just emerging from their crowns (which have lain dormant all
winter). For a mature, well tended patch you can harvest these stems, as they emerge from the ground, for two months without damaging the plants. However if they were never allowed to grow and unfold their leaves to photosynthesize, the plants would eventually succumb to starvation. Over the course of the summer you will see a few stems emerge from under the fronds and I will often pluck these late arrivals for a rare treat, eaten raw in the garden.
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