When it comes to microgreens seeds for broccoli, there are a lot of names thrown around. Some are synonyms, and some are not even related to broccoli at all. Let me take you on a taxonomic journey about broccoli.

Why it matters to us

In an ideal world, we can have our microgreens analysed in a lab to give you the exact nutritional value of what you get on your plate. This is the ultimate goal, but realistically speaking, this isn’t going to happen right away. There are, however, some studies available that list the nutritional facts of various microgreens.

If we want to refer to these studies, it only makes sense that we use the same variety of seeds they use.

The studies

There are currently two main studies we want to refer to for our broccoli microgreens:

The Microgreens of Brassicaceae study states that it uses Brassica oleracea L. var. italica.

The Broccoli Microgreens study states that it uses:  Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis Waltham 29 from Mountain Valley Seeds.

The seeds for sale

In Europe, you can mainly find two types of broccoli seeds to grow microgreens:

  • Broccoli Raab (Brassica rapa cymosa)
  • Broccoli Calabrese (Brassica oleracea botrytis cymosa)

Great, none of these names matches what is mentioned in the studies. That would have been too easy. 🙈

Our research

So I started researching all the different types I encountered. First of all, plant names are very messy. People use different names for the same plant, and people (mistakenly) use the same name for different plants. 🤯

Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis Waltham 29

Let’s start with the studies:

The Broccoli Microgreens study states that it uses:  Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis Waltham 29 from Mountain Valley Seeds. I googled this, and it turns out True Leaf Market acquired Mountain Valley Seeds.

On the website of True Leaf Market, you can find the BROCCOLI – WALTHAM 29 – MICROGREENS SEEDS sold by Mountain Valley Seed Co. It also mentions the Latin name: Brassica oleracea var. italica

So both studies used a similar seed. That’s already great news.

Next, I researched the seeds they sell in Europe.

Broccoli Calabrese (Brassica oleracea botrytis cymosa)

I found a study that looks into the genetic differences between different broccoli cultivars.

In the study, the authors mention that the Latin name for broccoli is Brassica oleracea var. italica and that Calabrese is a subpopulation of the italica variation.

There is still a piece of information missing, though: the Latin name for Broccoli Calabrese.

The authors also mention that the Latin name for cauliflower is Brassica oleracea var. botrytis. Since broccoli calabrese has the Latin name Brassica oleracea botrytis cymosa, this is utterly confusing.

After some digging, I found several trustworthy sources (like the Invasive Species Compendium database and the EPPO Global Database) that state Brassica oleracea convar. botrytis var. cymosa is an alternative scientific name for Brassica oleracea var. italica.

screenshot of the Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli) page of the Invasive Species Compendium website.
Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli) in the Invasive Species Compendium database
screenshot of the Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli) page of the EPPO Global Database website.
Brassica oleracea var. italica in the EPPO Global Database

Ok, so now we know that if we buy Broccoli Calabrese seeds (Brassica oleracea convar. botrytis var. cymosa). We can refer to the studies, knowing they match our seeds.

But what about Broccoli Raab?

Broccoli Raab is not related at all to broccoli (i.e. Brassica oleracea). It’s from a different species: Brassica rapa. Even though it looks similar to broccoli, it’s actually related to turnip and bok choy.

Photo of a Broccoli plant
Broccoli
Photo of Broccoli Raab
Broccoli Raab

This is not trivial! 

Broccoli microgreens are high in glucoraphanin. This nutrient is converted into sulforaphane. A compound that has been scientifically proven to have many health benefits, including inhibiting certain cancers. This is one of the main reasons that broccoli microgreens are so popular.

(See the following links for more information on the health benefits of broccoli microgreens:

These studies investigated broccoli (microgreens), but as Broccoli Raab is not broccoli, we don’t have any information to confirm that this microgreen would have the same beneficial impact.

Conclusion

We thought buying broccoli microgreens would be simple, but it took us at least a day of research to understand which ones we needed to buy. For us, it’s clear now. We’re going for the Broccoli Calabrese seeds (Brassica oleracea convar. botrytis var. cymosa).