Ninja Broccoli

Katrina Dodson, who blogs at weirdvegetables.blogspot.com, reports that Brazil has a variety of broccoli named Ninja Broccoli -- or Brócolis Ninja. It seems to be similar to the broccoli found most frequently in American supermarkets. In fact, it may be the same as American broccoli. (I can't quite tell from what she writes.) She isn't sure how the Brazilian variant acquired the Ninja label, but offers this possibility:

ninja broccoli began to sprout as a genetic accident, a hybrid among fields of "normal," or sprouting broccoli (recall that the U.S. "normal" broccoli is this genetic aberration). At first, farmers considered it an undesirable variant but could not get rid of this broccoli that kept appearing and spreading mysteriously. A Japanese scientist, who preferred to remain anonymous, compared these cunning broccoli to ninjas, and the name stuck, immediately snatched up by marketing professionals as a stroke of genius: Ninja broccoli, your kid's favorite vegetable.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 28, 2012
Category: Food | Vegetables

Comments

-Mom, Broccoli snuck on my plate again...

That is because it is a ninja, honey...

-Really? Cool! NUM NUM NUM NUM

Posted by Fluffy Bunny Slippers on 01/28/12 at 07:52 PM

I'll have to look it up on NINGA GOOGLE :coolsmile:

Posted by Tyrusguy on 01/28/12 at 08:01 PM

We have two types of broccoli: one that is very similar to cauliflower, only green (short "stems", compact) and other that looks a little bit between a mix between an asparagus and a cauliflower (long "stems", the head is smaller and not as compact as the other type).

My wife's family is Japanese, and prefer to eat the compact version, often cooked. I *guess* it is the "ninja" version.

Never heard about this "Japanese scientist" nonsense, looks like a fancy story to make a dull vegetable interesting. Farmer's markets call it "ninja" because it sounds japanese-ish.

Posted by Brasileiro on 01/29/12 at 04:09 AM

You eat broccori or I kick you a$$!

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/29/12 at 04:34 AM

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