In recent years, broccoli has gained a reputation as a super vegetable because of its high concentration of beneficial compounds. Sulforaphane.
With some studies showing how this compound plays a role Blood sugar control And it might be. Anti-cancer benefitsThis is not surprising Broccoli capsules They are increasing.
However, a Previous research has shown Eating the whole vegetable gives you more sulforaphane than consuming extra food - so a team of Chinese researchers decided to test the best way to cook broccoli.
They reached a clear winner by printing Their results In 2018 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry - but it's a tough sell if you have better things to do with your time.
There is a method behind the madness, though. Sulforaphane isn't just stored in broccoli florets, it's ready to drink. Instead, the plant contains several compounds called glucosinolates.
It contains an enzyme myrosinaseWhat plants have been created to protect against herbal medicines? Glucinolates are converted to sulforaphane by what is known as 'myrosinase activity', which is what we need.
To kick the myrosinase activity into gear you'd need to damage the broccoli, so you'd think cooking would do the trick.
Unfortunately Studies show Common broccoli recipes such as boiling and microwave seriously Reduce The amount of glucosinolates in the vegetable - even if you only put it for a few minutes. And myrosinase is also very sensitive to heat.
So by far the most amount of sulforaphane you can get from broccoli is by ingesting the raw herb. Are you sure?
This led a team of researchers to think about the effects of fermentation - the single most popular method of preparing vegetables in China.
"Surprisingly few methods have reported concentrations of sulforaphane in fermented broccoli, and to our knowledge, no report has focused on the stability of sulforaphane during fermentation," the researchers said. Note in their study.
The team bought a bunch of broccoli from a local market and got to work, measuring the compounds in the vegetables as they went.
First, boil the broccoli and cut it into 2-millimeter pieces to get as much myrosinase activity as possible (remember, the activity occurs when the broccoli is damaged).
Then they divide their samples into three groups - one is left raw, one is fried directly after cutting for four minutes, and the third is cut and left alone for 90 minutes and left alone for four minutes as well.
The 90-minute waiting time was to see if the broccoli would have more time to develop beneficial compounds before cooking a simple meal.
And that's what the team found - broccoli that was boiled immediately had 2.8 times less sulforaphane than broccoli that was left to 'cultivate' for a long time.
"Our results suggest that after cutting broccoli florets into small pieces, they should sit for 90 minutes before cooking." The group writesThey didn't try it, but they thought, "30 minutes would be worth it."
We're not sure we're willing to put in all that effort, though. The team says they're looking for ways to reduce the amount of trimming required, so watch this space — or just eat some raw broccoli.
The study was published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
An earlier version of this article was published in February 2018.
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