Today's financiers eat their brassica puréed, with seared scallops and a cumin jus, while chatting about the property they own back home in the Auvergne or New England.
Hairy bittercress This unobtrusive "weed" is a member of the brassica family.
Tasty tells us why George H W Bush banned the bitter brassica broccoli from the White House in the early 1990s (probably because of his genes and his personal taste receptors), how we came to drink cow's milk despite a natural intolerance (by letting it go bad first) and how all five of the senses feed our brains an all-encompassing message of flavour.
Brothers Stephano and Andrea D'Arrigo were the first to cultivate vast crops of the divisive brassica from their farm in San Jose, California during the 1920s – just in time to grace the lunch table of a young George HW Bush.
Broccoli and brussels sprouts Active molecule Diindolylmethane The research Combining a potent cocktail of anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties, diindolylmethane from brassica vegetables is set to become one of the leading new phytochemical drugs.
At Oxheart the night I visited, there were two brassica courses, starting with a salad of sliced raw chard and kale leaves with pickled chard stems and a dressing of mint and basil oil with the juice of, yes, more chard.
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) is in the brassica family, which includes turnips, kale, mustard greens, broccoli rabe, daikon radish and many other plants with varying degrees of pungency and a similar taste.
In addition to the sulfur-containing phytonutrients that all members of the brassica family contain, broccoli is a good source of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which have been shown to protect the eyes against macular degeneration.
It's a member of the brassica family, those nutrient-dense cabbages (as well as kales, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower) whose phytochemicals are highly regarded for their antioxidant properties.
A member of the brassica family (along with kale, brussels sprouts and broccoli), cabbage is extremely healthful.
But today, as a volunteer at OxGrow, a sustainable community garden in south Oxford, I am told our aim is to grow two beds of green manure plants, as well as alliums, brassica, carrots, parsnips and beets.
