What's Going on with Broccoli

Sure sounds well past it's best, return it to the store.

I thought this was going to be about an article I've just read stating that a US professor's research says that a chemical in broccoli can be used to treat autism.

I've had to stop buying broccoli not just because of the yellowing but also because it is so bendy, it must be weeks old with no nutritional value left whatsoever. Carrots aren't much better. Cabbages have seen better days as well. No excuse as this is a farming community!

Yes. Suspect its old or just dried up, so we don't buy it. Luckily, the caulis have been good and cheap this year, and the toms have been brilliant, as have the courgettes, onions and garlic. so its been ratatouille time!

I've noticed broccoli goes yellow very quickly these days as well. Papaoscar just beat me to it re the caulis - it does seem to have been a good year for them!

When you grow your own veg, and only occasionally buy them, it's quite scary to see how long you can keep them before they even start to look slightly past their best.

Broccoli lasts well for a good three weeks, so do cucumbers. When was the last time you had a cucumber that lasted that long? Many lettuces last a week or more unless they are very floppy ones. Carrots last for weeks as long as they aren't washed. Garlic almost a year. Tomatoes three weeks. Peppers a month. I don't have a veg garden at the moment as we are turning it into raised beds next year, and I feel well and truly ripped off. Who is getting all the fresher stuff?

I always bought veg at our local veg shop, but that went pop when Morrison's arrived. Buying veg on the market is hit and miss. Some stuff is excellent, but unless items are picked from under your nose, rather than under the counter, it's so disappointing to arrive home and find half the stuff is beyond its best. I've tried Aldi/Lidil but they don't have as much choice as Sainsbury's. So, unless we have a farmer's market, it's Sainsbury's for me. Expensive, but fresh.

There's a brilliant organic shop in Chorlton, Unicorn. If I have a Chorlton day out, I stock up there, it's great value and the quality 2nd to none.

It sounds to me as though the yellowing underneath could be because they have been grown so close together that the light has not reached that part, so it is blanched.

My problem with broccoli is how soon the top goes to seed and becomes hard and inedible - then it all goes discoloured and horrible.

I suppose if we all shopped daily, the problem with fruit and vegetables would cease. I do find it easier though, to do a big weekly shop (especially as this task fell to Mriam some years ago

I only buy tenderstem now as I think the ordinary stuff is rather tasteless as well as 'wilting' far more quickly than it used to!

We have had cauliflower a lot too but the carrots we have bought recently haven't been brilliant either.

Has anyone every bought from those organic on-line vegetable boxes? Wonder what the quality is like - I would hope a lot better than supermarkets given the price.

MiL does, but as they hardly eat any veg most of it ends up on the compost heap. I've been there when they have opened the box, and it's really good, but they stopped because for several months of the year there was always a turnip. It wasn't actually, sometimes it was swede, but they both hate turnip and that was the reason they gave for stopping it.

I used to have organic veg boxes, from a local growers co-op.
They were very good, particularly when they gave you veg you had never used before, and put recipes in for them. The quality was excellent.
I have just had some delicious broccoli tonight, roasted with various other veg. It was dated 7th, but still perfectly green. It was organic.