Vegetable
Marathon
A tier
Marathon is a widely planted hybrid Calabrese known for large, heavy green heads, good holding ability in the field, and adaptability across cool coastal production regions. Bead is fine to medium; flavour matches mainstream broccoli rather than a gourmet niche. The name dominated late-twentieth-century commercial seed choices in several export nations. Cook as any dense head broccoli; thick stalks reward peeling. Marathon’s field holding helps shippers but home cooks should still use heads before florets open yellow. Freezes well after blanching.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Marathon hybrid broccoli was developed and released for large-head commercial production.
Global broccoli exporters planted Marathon across temperate coastal belts.
Mexican and other export fields used Marathon heavily for US winter supply.
Newer hybrids chipped at Marathon’s share while it stayed a production benchmark.