Lucifer's Crucifera

I know it’s a bit sad, but I’m that pleased with my Brussels Sprouts, that I just had to commemorate them in a blog. As you can see from the photos, it was a good yield of tight button heads.

There were just over six pounds in that picture, from the last six plants that I’ve just stripped, as I didn’t want to risk losing them to this unrelenting weather. After a couple of hours they were prepared and ready for the freezer.

Sprouts, to me, are a much maligned vegetable that when cooked properly are absolutely delicious.
Notice I say cooked “properly”, because at the risk of suffering the wrath of the ”al dente“ police, that means until they are good and soft !

Admittedly they are not to everyone’s taste, some even calling them the Devil’s vegetable. In fact one Captain Wayne Keble OBE, commander of HMS Bulwark banned them from his ship, "to protect his men from the evils of sprouts"(See article). I wonder if that’s why they put a cross on the bottom of them ?

I don’t think they do that much for global warming either, being associated as they are with high levels of methane production in some people.

Trouble is, the freezer’s now full of ‘em and there’s only so many boiled ones you can eat in a year, so we are going to have to get a bit more adventurous.

Stir fried ? Roasted ? Sprout bubble and squeak ? Hmmm, sounds good in principle but I think I’ll have to reserve judgement just for now.

Come to think of it, should we really be messing about with Lucifer’s Crucifera at all !!!