Food - Drink
The Reason You'll Never Find Wild Broccoli
By LISA CURRAN MATTE
Broccoli is one of the most common vegetables in American grocery stores, but if you prefer to forage for your own produce in the wild or buy foraged foods, you'll be out of luck with this popular green veggie. Shockingly, broccoli is an entirely man-made vegetable that was originally bred from Brassica oleracea cabbage.
Many modern veggies actually originated from this wild cabbage; in old-fashioned vegetable cultivation, cabbage crops were made to blossom early, and growers would harvest and further tweak the best-tasting buds. This repetitive process transformed the original plant into broccoli, as well as cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts.
Early versions of broccoli likely debuted in the Mediterranean region in the 6th century B.C., where the crop continued to evolve with the help of humans. Broccoli originates from the cabbage's blossom, while kale and collard greens come from leaves; in any case, broccoli and its cousins must be cultivated and cannot be found in the wild.