The long slender stem is very sweet and tender and a comment we hear quite regularly is that kids particularly enjoy eating Broccolini®.    

It's easy to understand the public's ever-growing taste for Broccolini® baby broccoli, according to West Australian grower David Blakers.

 

"The long slender stem is very sweet and tender and a comment we hear quite regularly is that kids particularly enjoy eating Broccolini®," David says.

 

"Consumers have really embraced Broccolini®- and yet you occasionally meet someone who doesn't know what it is - so there is always scope to increase sales that bit further."

 

David manages a large-scale operation, Capel Farms, which he owns in a partnership alongside Greg Norton and family.

 

As well as Broccolini®, the operation also produces broccoli, onions and potatoes from their base at Capel, south-west Western Australia.

 

For David, who has been growing vegetables for over 30 years, the region is the ideal location for producing fresh, gourmet produce.

 

"Capel is close to the ocean, with a good climate. It has very good sandy well-drained soils and an excellent underground water supply, so it is very suitable for producing vegetables," David says.

 

The operation has been producing Broccolini® for Perfection Fresh since around 2007. Capel Farms produce the distinctive brassica on an impressive commercial scale - planting around 35,000 plants per week, 52 weeks of the year. The operation currently produces 3500-4000 cartons per week of the leafy green vegetable.

 

"Compared to other vegetables, Broccolini® is very labour intensive. In the summer time, we harvest seven days a week - it doesn't stop for Christmas Day, it doesn't stop for New Year's Day.

 

During winter, the pace slows down ever so slightly, with Capel Farms reverting to a six day harvest.

 

"One of the most important things with Broccolini® is having a good and reliable workforce; the labour will make or break you," David says.

 

Each week, between 18 to 26 workers carefully and painstakingly harvest Capel Farms' delicate crop by hand.

 

The harvesting of Broccolini® is a somewhat unusual process.

 

"We remove the central head to encourage stem growth, then we go through and pick again, anywhere from six to 12 times," David says.

 

"There is no way you can mechanise it - but of course the end result is well worth all the effort. "

 

Serving Suggestion

Lightly steam Broccolini® for two to three minutes and then serve with a sprinkling of cracked black pepper