What vegetable family does Calabrese broccoli come from?

Calabrese broccoli comes from the cabbage family, botanically known as the family Brassicaceae or Cruciferae.

Calabrese is a type of broccoli named after Calabria, a region in southern Italy. It produces one large, rounded green head made of tightly packed immature flower buds, followed by smaller side shoots after the main head is cut. In many English-speaking shops, calabrese is simply sold as “broccoli.”

The cabbage family includes a surprisingly large group of familiar vegetables. Cabbage, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and broccoli are all cultivated forms of the species Brassica oleracea. They may look very different because selective breeding emphasized different parts of the plant, such as leaves, stems or flower heads.

A common mix-up is treating “cabbage family” and “mustard family” as unrelated categories. They are two common names for Brassicaceae. Calabrese is therefore closely related to cabbage, even though the edible part resembles a compact flowering head rather than a leafy cabbage.