The magic of broccoli
What you serve with cooked crucifers can have a phenomenal impact on their potential health benefits, and it’s all to do with a little bit of kitchen chemistry. Crucifers are packed with glucosinolates which are broken down into chemicals called isothiocyanates, and which actually appear to hold the health promise. But the heat of cooking, stops the production of these all-important isothiocyanates dead in its tracks, by destroying the enzyme responsible for the chemical reaction. Damn! In fact, one Dutch study found that cooking broccoli could slash the absorbable isothiocyanate levels a whopping 90 per cent; the same happens in other cruciferous veg. Fortunately, a team from the University of Reading found that simply adding a tiny amount of powdered mustard seeds (also a cruciferous plant, which contains a heat-resistant form of the enzyme) to cooked crucifers like broccoli restores their ability to generate the isothiocyanate. Adding just half a teaspoon of mustard powder for every 200g of cooked crucifers made them, almost as if by magic, pretty much as good as raw.
The best bit? Mustard is a natural flavour enhancer so your veg actually tastes better as a result. This mustard dressing – based on Reading Uni’s calculations – is all you need to transform the average 300g head of broccoli.