Dinner Ladies and Brocolli !

[Maf]

As a child I used to have a reccuring dream where I was chased by scarey Dinner Ladies with huge trays of foul smelling brocolli.

Let's just say I had a healthy hatred for the stuff until last week, when I was 'persuaded' (forced!) to try Waitrose Tenderstem Brocolli.

Wow, not a hint of sulphur, no farty cooking stench. This stuff was beautiful almost to asparagus like levels of tastyness.

I bought some more the day after, but my expectations of tasty tips were dashed as a familiar stench arose from the steamer.

See I thought I was being Eco-savvy by buying british sprouting brocolli tips, but these smelt just like dinner lady brocolli and tasted vile.

The Tenderstem stuff comes from Jordan and the name has a trademark registration.

Is it a different variety, is it the climate or some strange Jordanian growing program that makes them Tenderstem ?

I'd love to grow some.

[rustylady]

Grow your own, then you will really taste the difference. Picked and cooked within an hour is totally different to buying from a supermarket (probably at least a week from picking).

[sewer rat]

The Tenderstem stuff comes from Jordan and the name has a trademark registration.

Is it a different variety, is it the climate or some strange Jordanian growing program that makes them Tenderstem ?

I'd love to grow some.

Not 100% certain on this but I saw some "tenderstem broccolli" in my local supermarket recently and it looked to me as if it either the sideshoots from calabrese or a variety of PSB"
As Rustylady says, freshness is the key

[jacob marley]

I had the same problem with dinner ladies and that pinkish splodgey stuff they called swedes i have not eaten any since or grown them either horible jacob

[Cutecumber]

Tenderstem is a hybrid of broccoli and an oriental brassica.

It is relatively quick growing and uniform which is why it is popular for the supermarkets.

All broccoli and calabrese can be as tender and tasty as tenderstem, if you grow it yourself and cook it fresh - there's an awful lot of marketing hype behind that name.

It's not a great idea for any of us to be buying out of season air-freighted veg when the stuff we grow here is just as good. But it's on the shelves and you have the choice.