Trying to research this online, I can’t find a straight answer on whether broccolini is a genetically modified food. Some say yes (adding that there’s a rat gene spliced into it, which sounds suspiciously urban legend-like), and others that deny that broccolini is anything but a standard hybrid. Problem is, both sides seem to have agendas in taking a stance. So what’s the real deal with Broccolini?
I’d never een heard of broccolini until you mentioned it; there’s a short piece about it on Wiki, where it is reported that it is a hybrid between broccoli and kale. The genus brassica is notoriously promiscuous, so I have no trouble at all believing this, and since cauliflower, sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi are all just varieties of the same species, I also have no trouble in believing that members of the genus are sufficiently malleable in form to be able to produce something like brocolini with no direct manipulation of genes.
It’s a pretty recent thing, I think-- I don’t remember seeing it more than 5 years ago. Anyway, it’s quite good, and I think it tastes significantly better than broccoli. I would liken it to a cross between broccoli and asparagus, which is why I was a bit surprised to read that it’s a cross between broccoli and kale.
Are there any examples of a genetically modified new food? I thought all GM food was just variations of current foods to make them more resistant to pests or for better transport or the like. I’ve never heard of a GM hybrid.
I was surprised to see that it was considered sweeter than broccoli. When I tried it I found it very bitter.
However, I will absolutely guarantee that anyone who claims that a rat gene is involved has Broccolini for brains.
Do a google search that includes “broccolini” and “genetically” as keywords and you’ll find many, many links which purport that this addition of a rat gene is to raise the vitamin C content. It seems like a stretch to me, but I’m no biologist. I’m not prepared to write it off just because it sounds stupid.
Aren’t rats supposed to be capable of making their own vitamin C? I’ve heard that before, maybe that’s the reason (or the source of the rumor, as the case may be).
I am: it sounds stupid.
Not stupid that people would put a rat gene into a brassica, but stupid that it would hit the market as a crop without so much as a murmur from any of the agencies interested in registering and approving such things.
It’s not mentioned at all here: http://www.agbios.com/dbase.php?action=ShowForm
As someone already pointed out in this thread, darn near every vegetable you buy in the store is genetically modified to make it tastier, prettier, or more forgiving of the ravages of transport. Hybridization is the slow, old-fashioned way of doing this, but the genetic manipulation is just as “real” as the newer, faster methods.
Are you sure you aren’t thinking of rappini, aka broccoli rabe? That’s pretty bitter, and looks similar.
WRT the vitamin C: broccoli itself apparently has vitamin C. You wouldn’t need a rat gene to get a hybrid derived from it to also be high in vitamin C.
Well, actually between brocoli and gai-lan or chinese brocoli. I don’t know why they call it chinese kale in that article but oriental vegtables seem to get named a dozen different things. But gailan seems to have very little relationship with real kale.
I don’t agree that the two things are necessarily qualitatively equivalent; no amount of traditional-method selective breeding is going to result in the insertion of genetic material from, say, a fish into a cucumber; There’s very little reason to equate the two methods, except as a bald effort to convince people that direct genetic modification is OK.
You might think, from reading this, that I am anti-GM; I’m not; I just don’t think we should pretend it’s something that it isn’t, just to win people over.
Chinese versions of cabbage etc are typically descendants of mustards, not that there’s a great deal of differentiation across the whole of the brassica genus; as I said, they’re notoriously promiscuous, the plants in the group and it’s not always all that clear which of them are hybrids of which others or vice versa.
And the very first link states emphatically that it is not a genetically modified food. 
See Mangetout’s response. It sounds stupid because it’s politically impossible. It would be the cause celebre of the anti-GM movement if true. Just because anti-GM websites report it as fact means nothing. That none of us can find any legitimate scientific evidence of this means a lot.
And I might be thinking of broccoli rabe instead of broccolini. I’ll have to search it out again if it lives up to the claims.
But like I said, every site I saw seemed to have an agenda. Like the one you’re talking about, broccoli.com.
Well, my cat can do that too. But if I need Vitamin C, I’d do better eating an orange than eating him.