When you can get vividly fresh broccoli, in season, no more than hours after being picked, make the most of it! Most of the time broccoli doesn’t live up to its nutritional powerhouse reputation. The charge of vitamins decreases rapidly after harvesting and since most supermarket produce has been shipped at least hundreds of miles, the amazing benefits are reduced. But if you find broccoli at a farmers market or in your CSA basket this is one recipe that you can use to capture broccoli at its raw peak. The flavors are old-fashioned with the addition of mayonnaise and raisins (I would have gagged at the thought of such an abominable combination as a kid!) but at the same time very current with the freshness of broccoli and the spark of acid from the apple cider vinegar. When it comes to a choice of mayonnaise, Hellman’s was the best texturally for creaminess and for keeping the salad from slipping into sogginess after a few hours. The idea of mouthfuls of genetically modified soybean oil fluff along with such lovely broccoli kind of makes me cringe so I experimented with other organic varieties of mayonnaise. I’ve found Veganaisse to be tasty and thick enough to keep things nicely suspended and safflower oil mayo to be also good but less effective at coating the broccoli well. Yogurt, the thick, whole-milk kind can be substituted for the mayo.
From Simply in Season though they write the recipe with 10 strips of bacon which I speculate could take away from the other wonderful flavors.
Recipe:
3 cups broccoli florets
1 cup organic raisins (Conventional raisins are highly sprayed with pesticides)
1/2 cup red onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 tbs. raw sugar
1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
Directions:
1.Dice red onion finely
2. Toss together broccoli, raisins, cheese, sunflower seeds, and onion
3. Whisk together vinegar, sugar, and mayo.
4. Pour dressing onto broccoli mixture and mix well.
5. Chill and eat!
Eastside Epicurean 
