Plants are selected based on qualities such as appearance, taste, disease resistance and heat resistance. Each variety is bred naturally, through a process of selection that can take more than ten years depending on the variety. There are many hybrid broccoli and kale varieties available through seed catalogs and online sellers. Blanched Purple Peacock broccoli can be frozen for up to 3 months. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The florets can be baked, roasted, blanched, braised or sautéed. Chop the florets and leaves and add to pastas or sauté with grlic and oil and add to grain salads. Use Purple Peacock broccoli in any recipe calling for broccoli. Both the leaves and florets will cook to a dark green color. When the leaves are older, they can be cooked similarly to kale. They can be tossed with a light vinaigrette and served as a salad or lightly blanched or sautéed for a side dis. Purple Peacock broccoli leaves and small sprouting heads are tender and sweet enough to be used raw in many culinary applications when young. The bright purple pigment comes from anthocyanin, another powerful antioxidant. It is a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, folates, B-complex vitamins, manganese, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper and zinc. Purple Peacock broccoli is an excellent source of vitamins C, K and A, and the phytonutrients lutein-zeaxanthin and beta-carotene, which provide beneficial antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Purple Peacock broccoli is not available commercially or on a wide scale. The open pollinated variety has leaves that most closely resemble red Russian kale and produces tons of small, tender side shoots.
It is a cross between green goliath broccoli and two colorful kale varieties, and offers crisp, kale-like leaves and small, tender florets. Purple Peacock broccoli is a non-heading, hybrid variety of Brassica oleracea. Purple Peacock broccoli is available year-round. The florets and smaller, younger leaves are tender and offer a slightly bitter, sweet flavor. The plant does not produce a central head, instead it produces an abundance of loose heads with purple and dark green florets around 2 to 3 centimeters in diameter. The leaves range in size from 20 to 30 centimeters. Purple Peacock broccoli has wrinkled, deeply serrated, frilly leaves, that are dark blue green with vibrant purple veins and stems.