I harvested broccolini for a Michelin star restaurant – here is when and how to pick the crop at its absolute peak

Cut broccolini stems and florets on a white surface.

You can harvest broccolini regularly and enjoy those crunchy stems and florets for many weeks. This trendy vegetable is now commonplace on restaurant menus, but you can grow and harvest your own to avoid the inflated price tags it often comes with in stores.

Repeated harvesting is a prime reason to grow broccolini, which can also be referred to as tender stem broccoli. You get the main central head, then the joy of broccolini is those successive harvests of delicious side shoots suitable for a plethora of dishes.