Broccoli should not be soaked in water to be cleaned. [5] X Research source
Leaves can be thrown away or you might use these as part of a salad, which you could serve as a side dish along with your broccoli. [8] X Research source
The florets are the part of the broccoli that appear like tiny trees branching off from the thick, green stem. Due to the thickness or position of the florets, you may not be able to get an ideal cut on your first try. Don’t worry, you will tidy up your cut broccoli once the florets are completely free of the stalk.
Ideally, you should cut the florets about an inch down from where their flowering part begins. If you are going to cook the florets, try to make them all roughly the same size so that they cook at the same speed. If you intend to eat the florets raw, the size will not matter and you won’t have to trim them down to an even size. [10] X Research source
Cutting off too much stalk from the floret can result in your broccoli crumbling apart while cooking or handling. [12] X Research source
Cut the floret in half with your knife or scissors. For smaller pieces of broccoli, halving once may be sufficient for balancing the size of the broccoli. Or. . . Halve the two resulting pieces again for larger florets of broccoli. Especially large pieces may need to be quartered for the best size ratio. Keeping your quartered florets a consistent size will also help them cook at an equal rate. [13] X Research source
In restaurants, cut broccoli sticks, when cooked, are often served under the name “coins. “[15] X Research source [16] X Research source
For especially thick stalks, you can continue halving in this fashion until each piece is as thin as you desire. The process of cutting vegetables into thin sticks of often called “Julienne style. ” This is a common method of preparation, so you might want to learn more about how to julienne vegetables. You can also line up and cut the stalks with your knife or scissors to cube the sticks. [17] X Research source
