Fall and winter’s saving grace in the vegetable department are the brassicas. This family of vegetables includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli raab, turnips, kale, mustard, and collards.

It’s great claim to fame is that almost all are cold tolerant. And although it’s true you won’t find someone harvesting them with a foot of snow on the ground, their tolerance for cold means that in many areas of the country they can be grown in cold frames even in the dead of winter. This is great because otherwise we’d be limited to winter squash or tubers like potatoes and sweet potatoes for fresh winter produce.

In addition to the expected complements of vitamins and minerals, these vegetables contain glucosinolate, which is an anti-oxidant and may reduce the risk of cancer, improve the lung function of people with COPD, and even undo diabetes damage. In other words they’re as healthy as all get-out.

But this family has a drawback, it tends to be bitter (and some folks are sensitive to this bitterness) and if not cooked properly (for the particular vegetable) they produce sulfur compounds. These compounds are particularly apt to show up by over-cooking broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, which explains why so many people dislike these veggies. Nevertheless, done well they’re all delicious, they complement well the heartier flavors of cold-weather dishes such as beef stew and braised lamb shanks, and their fresh flavor is a welcome addition to winter meals.

Roasted Cauliflower has a wonderfully nutty, almost pecan-like, flavor. If you’ve never had roasted cauliflower prepare yourself for a treat, it becomes a totally different vegetable and one that even cauliflowers haters have come to love.

When I was a kid I loved Brussels sprouts – baby cabbages. Like cabbage itself, over-cooking results in particularly distinctive sulphur compounds – not happy-making. But cooked well as in this recipe for Braised Brussel Sprouts they’re incredibly good.

Broccoli is one of my go-to weeknight veggies. It’s steams in 15 minutes and is wonderful topped with butter and lemon juice, mayonnaise, or even store-bought blue cheese or Italian dressing. Just cook it and pour something on top – it’s great!

And let’s not forget brassica roots – specifically ruatabaga. Slightlu bitter but also sweet sweet, it’s wonderful paired with almost any winter dish, but I think especially good with roast birds: chicken, turkey, or duck. This recipe for Rutabaga with Maple Syrup and Bourbon is particularly good.