Get to know arugula flowers, an edible flower with a peppery bite, perfect for adorning all of your spring dishes.

We’re talking about another cool-weather-loving brassica while we wait for spring’s bounty. Get the true story on this feisty looking green, plus ideas for a week’s worth of mizuna-filled meals.

Every week we get Down & Dirty, in which we break down our favorite unique seasonal fruits, vegetables, and more.

Today is all about our new favorite green. Learn what to look for at the market, and how to work it into meals from now till next week. 

Every week we get Down & Dirty, in which we break down our favorite unique seasonal fruits, vegetables, and more.

1. Yellow leaves or flowers? Take a pass in favor of better, greener options. 
2. Does the thought of eating broccoli rabe leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth? We have ways to help.
3. Trim here and get cooking. Get ideas for every day of the week!

We'll be focusing on more glamorous cold-weather produce in the coming weeks -- citrus, anyone? -- but today it's all about winter's root vegetable workhorses. Turnips and rutabagas are both in the brassica family (along with broccoli and cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and more) and are as hardy as root vegetables can be -- although telling them apart can be tricky!

There's a lingering stereotype about brussels sprouts that says they're mushy, funky, and to be avoided. Not so! Brussels sprouts, which originated in Northern Europe in the 13th century or so, are actually the greatest of all brassicas: they have cabbage's vegetal sweetness, kale's versatility, cauliflower's nuttiness, and more surface area (which equals more potential crispiness) than just about any other vegetable.

Today we're taking a nose dive into the salad bowl with a half-dozen varieties of dark leafy greens. These plants come from a few different plant families -- arugula, kale, and collards are Brassicas, spinach and chard are in the Amaranth family, and dandelion is from the family Asteraceae -- but they share certain essential characteristics in the kitchen: all can be enjoyed raw or cooked, and they're all hardier than the fragile salad greens of spring.

Along with peas, broccoli and cauliflower are vegetables that are easy to malign when cooked poorly -- "stale and murky," our senior editor Kristen calls them. But treated right in a slaw, a batch of roasted vegetables, or pesto, broccoli, cauliflower, and their ilk can be downright classy. Today we tackle a bevy of brassicas, floret by floret.

There's something of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde about cabbage. One minute it's crunchy and perky, brightening up your burger with a simple slaw, and the next minute it's gone slack, tender, and sweet in a stew or a braise. They're also famous internationally for their pickling affinity, from sauerkraut to kimchi.