Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale are packed with a very special nutrient called sulforaphane. Keep in mind that many vitamins and phytochemicals, including sulphoraphane, are destroyed in the cooking process. The best way to enjoy your cruciferous veggies? Raw and fermented or lightly steamed to the point where they still have some crunch when bitten into.

Cruciferous vegetables are rich in the organic sulfur compound, sulforaphane.

Cruciferous veggies have been found to protect the vascular system and to eliminate potential carcinogens from the body, thereby reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. The flowers of all cruciferous vegetables resemble a cross, which has Latin roots in the word crux and is where they get their name, cruciferous.

Vegetables in this family are Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, horseradish, rutabaga, turnips, and watercress. This family of bitter greens and roots is quickly becoming the focus of scientists and cancer specialists alike due to the high amounts of glucosinolates that it contains.

Glucosinolates are sulfur-containing compounds that give these veggies their spicy and aromatic flavor.

Chewing or chopping raw cruciferous vegetables activates a class of plant enzymes called myrosinase, which then transforms glucoraphanin, a glucosinolate, into sulforaphane when the plant is damaged. When any member of the Brassica family is boiled or exposed to excessive heat, the amount of glucosinolates is reduced, and heat inactivates myrosinase, as it does to any enzyme. This can diminish the amount of sulforaphane that a vegetable delivers.