Broccoleaf

Have you noticed this organic product in your produce department?  Wary of gimmicks, I wanted to know the story of this lovely, delicious leafy veggie.  Is it genetically engineered, a la broccolini?  Where has it been all my life?  I discovered that it's not a frankenveggie.  It's --you guessed it -- the leaves of a broccoli plant!

These kale-sized leaves aren't typically sold as food.  Historically, they've been added to spent soils by farmers.  Broccoli leaves are wonderful at restoring minerals and cleansing the soils of toxins.

I'm glad to know these leaves serve a farming purpose, but I'm a waste-not-want-not kind of girl, so I wanted in on the action of this scrappy delicacy.

One of the best scraps to juice is the surprisingly sweet broccoli stem, so I suspected the leaves would also be mild and delicious.  I wasn't disappointed.  I ate a whole bunch this morning, sauteed with garlic and mushrooms and a little cumin -- lovely!