Broccoli raab
Broccoli raab is a good alternative for people who don’t like the texture of regular broccoli. And unlike broccoli, you’re not limited to the head of flower buds. You can eat the leaves and stems as well.
Originally from Europe, broccoli raab (pronounced “rob”) is a cool climate vegetable with a nutty and slightly pungent flavor. Some people compare the taste to that of turnips and even mustard. That’s no surprise since broccoli raab is more related to turnips than broccoli.
It also goes by the names rapini, rabe and sorrento. An Asian variety is called hon tsai.
Like broccoli, it’s packed with nutrients and health benefits. The leafy green vegetable is rich in protein, iron, calcium, manganese, and dietary fiber. It also has more antioxidants than broccoli.
While it’s mainly popular in Italian, Greek, Spanish and Portuguese cuisines, raab has many uses. It can be steamed and mixed into pasta, used as a topping over pizza, stuffed into calzones, or layered as filling into lasagna. The cooked greens can also be stirred into pureed legumes or polenta, simmered in soups, mixed into stir-fries, cooked with eggs, or tossed with sweeter greens to make a fresh side dish.
In Italy, raab is frequently combined with peppers and sausage to create a dynamic sandwich. It is also blended into a variation of pesto and used as a spread, sauce, and dip.
The bitter flavor of raab complements acidic, sweet, fatty, and salty foods. It successfully pairs with hard cheeses such as pecorino, parmesan, and grana padano, meats such as pork, fish, and veal, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, raisins, olives, and garlic.
Unwashed, raw raab will keep 5 to 7 days when wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator’s crisper drawer. The vegetable can also be blanched and frozen in a sealed container for 3 to 6 months.
Raab is a descendant of a wild mustard plant and was selectively bred since ancient times for improved flavor and texture. Its origins are heavily debated, with some experts tracing it to the Mediterranean region, specifically southern Italy, while other experts link it to China. Both regions have been using it for centuries and consider it to be deeply intertwined into their culture.
Raab spread from Italy into Spain and Portugal was later introduced to the United States in the late 1920s. D’Arrigo Brothers, Italian immigrants and businessmen who originally introduced broccoli to the U.S., began growing the bitter vegetable in California in hopes of bringing another successful Italian vegetable to Italian-American households.
With its initial introduction into American markets, raab was slow to be accepted and did not see commercial success until the 1960s.
Today raab is still widely cultivated in Southern Italy, China, and Hong Kong. The sharp-flavored variety is also grown in Spain, Portugal, Canada, and California.
In As Pontes, a small town in northwest Spain, an annual Rapini Festival, or Feira do Grelo, honors the favorite regional vegetable. The festival was established in 1981 and takes place in February during peak raab season. Raab is regarded as one of the town’s most famous culinary ingredients, and the festival highlights the vegetable through live entertainment and contests to determine the best locally grown crop.
