Asparagus is probably the most popular spring-time vegetable. However, as one might imagine, there are other vegetables coming into season at this time of the year. After all, we don’t live exclusively on asparagus in the way that the Irish in the nineteenth-century lived, almost comically so, on a diet composed almost entirely of potatoes. The subject of this post, purple sprouting broccoli, is one of the most interesting of the current seasonal treats. This rather attractive vegetable, or brassica to be more precise, is beautiful both inside and out. In my opinion, purple sprouting broccoli is a far more interesting ingredient than asparagus in both its taste and appearance. This variety of broccoli is also, as it happens, far cheaper than asparagus. Indeed, it works out at a little less than half the price.