What is broccoli and where did it originate?
Broccoli is botanically known as "Brassica oleracea italica", is native to the Mediterranean. It was engineered from a cabbage relative by the Etruscans - ancient Italian civilization who lived in what is now Tuscany - who were considered to be horticultural geniuses. Its English name, broccoli, is derived from the Italian word "broccolo", which means "the flowering crest of a cabbage", and the Latin brachium meaning arm, branch, or shoot. Broccoli has been considered a very valuable food by the Italians since the Roman Empire, but when first introduced in England in the mid-18th century, broccoli was referred to as "Italian asparagus". There are records of Thomas Jefferson, who was an avid gardener, experimenting with broccoli seeds brought over from Italy in the late 1700s, but although commercial cultivation of broccoli dates back to the 1500s.
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