Can I eat broccoli and cauliflower stalks and leaves?
Yes to all of it, and the stalk is arguably the better part. How to prepare each one so it cooks in the same time as the florets instead of staying hard.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Peel the tough outer layer off a broccoli or cauliflower stalk, then slice or dice it and it cooks in the same time as the florets — sweeter and firmer than the tops. Cauliflower leaves roast to crisp like kale. Broccoli leaves and the tender parts of the stems of kale, cabbage and sprout tops are all good food. Roughly a third of a cauliflower by weight is usually thrown away.
The reason brassica stalks have a bad reputation is that people cook them unpeeled and in the same pieces as the florets, so they come out woody while the tops are done. Both problems are preparation, not the vegetable.
Step by step
- Peel the broccoli stalk.The outer layer is fibrous and it is the only genuinely tough part. Trim the dry base, then take the skin off with a peeler or a knife, working down from the top. What is left is pale, dense and sweet — better than the florets to a lot of people.
- Cut the stalk to match the cooking time.Slice into coins, batons or dice a little smaller than the florets. It is denser, so smaller pieces bring it into the same time band. Cut this way it steams, boils, roasts or stir fries with the tops and needs no separate treatment.
- Treat the cauliflower stalk the same way.Peel the base, then slice or dice the core. It is milder and slightly sweeter than the florets. It roasts, goes into cauliflower cheese, and blends into soup without anyone noticing it was ever a stalk.
- Roast the cauliflower leaves.The tender inner leaves are the best-kept secret of the vegetable. Toss in oil and salt and roast at 200°C for 12–20 minutes until the thin parts are crisp and the ribs are tender. Add them to the tray for the last part of a roasting cauliflower.
- Use broccoli leaves and sprout tops as greens.Any leaf on a brassica is edible. Shred and cook them like cabbage or spring greens — quickly, in a hot pan or briefly boiled. The thick central ribs are worth slicing out and cooking a couple of minutes longer.
- Shred a stalk raw for slaw.Peeled broccoli stalk grated or shredded raw is crisp, sweet and excellent in a slaw with carrot, apple and a mustardy dressing. So is raw cauliflower core, sliced thin.
- Send the genuinely tough parts to stock.The very woody base of a stalk, the coarsest outer cauliflower leaves and the toughest kale ribs go in the stock pot or the compost. That is a small proportion of what most people throw away.
Tips
- Buying broccoli and cauliflower with the leaves still on is a sign of a good greengrocer and it gets you more food for the same money.
- Broccoli stalk cut into batons and blanched is an excellent thing for dipping, and children who dislike florets often eat it happily.
- Kale ribs are tougher than broccoli stalk. Strip the leaf off and either discard the rib, chop it finely and start it earlier, or pickle it.
- The same principle covers chard stems, cabbage cores and the woody ends of asparagus — the fibre is in a specific layer or part, and removing that makes the rest good.
Questions people ask
Why does my broccoli stalk taste bitter?
Usually an old head, or the unpeeled outer layer. Peeling removes most of it, and the flavour is milder in fresher broccoli.
Do the stalks have as much nutrition?
The stalk and leaves carry comparable amounts of fibre, vitamin C and the glucosinolates brassicas are noted for. There is no nutritional reason to prefer the florets.