Rehabilitating the Brussel Sprout
Originally published on Medium.
If ever there was a vegetable with a PR problem, it’s Brussel Sprouts. For every person that enjoys them, there’s someone else who absolutely despises their existence. When we think back to the icky, green vegetables that so disgusted us in our youth, Brussel Sprouts are frequently the first vegetable to come to mind. Green, bulky, bitter and yet somehow also flavorless, it’s a wonder we eat them at all.
And yet, this strange vegetable has enjoyed a resurgence of late. Shaved Brussel Sprout salads are a clever diversion from leafy greens. Restaurants offer Brussel Sprouts in elaborate dishes you never would’ve dreamed of.
Being as we are then in full Brussel Sprouts season, I wonder what on earth it is about these seemingly benign vegetables that makes them so distasteful. And why, if they’re the world’s most hated vegetable, are Brussel Sprouts enjoying a renaissance?
Brussel Sprouts are one of several other cruciferous vegetables, a group which includes broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, kale, and kohlrabi (not exactly a great selling point). One of the more interesting aspects of Brussel Sprouts is how they grow on stalks. A single stalk can take roughly two and a half to three months to grow, reaching two to sometimes even four feet in height, carrying a load of nutritious sprouts ready for consumption.
And indeed, the vegetable is remarkably beneficial to eat. Though a single Brussel sprout is 86% water, there are a number of vitamins and nutrients in them that make them a star vegetable. Specifically, they are high in Vitamins C and K, with moderate amounts of B vitamins. They are rich in antioxidants, high in fiber, help with blood sugar levels, and also contain folate, a key ingredient for healthy growth and red blood cell production.
Purple Brussel Sprouts were developed by the Dutch in the 1940’s by cross-breeding with red cabbage. Image from Rare Seeds
It might amaze you to know there are over two dozen varieties of Brussel Sprouts in the world, many with rather interesting names: Tasty Nuggets, Churchill, Bubbles, Long Island Improved (not to be confused with Long Island sprouts), Diablo, Groninger, and my two personal favorites, Igor and Gustus.
Though sprouts can technically grow in any season, the most varieties seem to favor the cold, late fall to early winter being when the freshest Brussel Sprouts are available in the supermarket (making them a terrific option for holiday dinners).
Brussel Sprouts are indeed named after Brussels in Belgium, though that’s not where they started out. The Ancient Romans grew them, and the plant itself seems to be native to the Mediterranean region. By the 5th century, the vegetable traveled to the northern regions of Europe before finding its biggest popularity in the Low Countries of modern day Netherlands and Belgium, where its been cultivated since the 13th century. (In fact, the Netherlands are still the world’s largest producers of Brussel sprouts with Germany and Mexico not far behind).
They didn’t just remain in the Low Countries, however. By the 19th century, Brussel Sprouts became popular in Great Britain, where they earned a spot as a key vegetable to have on the holiday supper menu. (The UK today still produces a hefty amount of Brussel Sprouts though they don’t export them). Their popularity is still in full force. In fact, the British celebrate ‘Eat Brussel Sprouts Day’ every January 31st, a reminder that the vegetable is healthy and should be consumed often, not just during the holidays.
Brussel Sprouts also made their way to America by way of the French who settled in Louisiana and harvested the vegetable. They weren’t a hot-market item until the 1920’s when they began to be mass produced in Louisiana and later California (which is where most of America’s Brussel Sprouts come from today).
You may still be wondering though: how did Brussel Sprouts ever become popular? Who on this green earth could possibly find them delicious? More recent history of the vegetable sheds light on what made Brussel Sprouts disgusting, and how they bounced back.
Perhaps the biggest complaint about Brussel Sprouts is their flavor. While some dislike their texture, or the fact they’re essentially small cabbages, it’s their bitterness in particular that can make them intolerable. So wide-spread and abhorrent was this phenomenon, it inspired a Dutch scientist by the name of Hans van Doorn to test what exactly it was about Brussel sprouts that gave them their bitter flavor.
In the 1990’s, he discovered that glucosinates, natural chemicals used as part of the plant’s defense to ward off bugs, were what caused this bitterness to be so extreme. They aren’t unique to Brussel Sprouts, being common in a variety of vegetables: cabbage, broccoli, mustard, etc. They are especially high in Brussel Sprouts however, making the vegetables hard to enjoy or tolerate.
After this discovery, the Dutch seed company Novartis where van Doorn worked searched for older seed varieties that wouldn’t have such high levels of these natural chemicals. The idea was that if they could cross-pollinate the newer seeds with older varieties of Brussel Sprouts, the could eventually produce a vegetable that was more palatable.
They succeeded. By 1994, the sweeter version of the Brussel Sprout entitled ‘Maximus’ was introduced to the market. This easily-grown vegetable is “sweet and well-flavoured” according to Simply Seed.
The implications of this are profound. What was once a hated vegetable suddenly became much more tolerable, even (dare we say it) delicious! In the culinary world, chefs began to take notice, and do extraordinary things to boost the vegetable’s popularity. The famous Momofuku restaurant in NYC prepared them with bacon. Roasted Brussel sprouts suddenly became a ‘must-have’ item on the Thanksgiving menu. And even my mother, who disliked the vegetable all her life, rather enjoyed a Brussel sprout side I made at a holiday dinner.
Little did we know then that the variety of Brussel Sprout we were eating was in fact, not the same variety those of her generation would’ve grown up with. Now that word has gotten around that the vegetable maybe isn’t as bad as we thought, sales have changed drastically. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that consumption of the vegetable has increased significantly from 0.33 pounds per capita in 2011 to 0.78 pounds in 2019.
Despite these heroic gains in Brussel sprout popularity, you still may hate them. This might be due to genetic factors that can affect the taste of the vegetable (much like how cilantro can taste like soap for some people). Or maybe your problem was never the bitterness to begin with, but the fact it’s a cabbage vegetable and it looks gross. Fine. But rest assured, Brussel sprouts can still be delicious. They just might take a little getting used to.
The nice thing about Brussel Sprouts is they’re simple to prepare, and not much is required to give them a boost in flavor to make them tolerable.
For a simple side, halve your Brussel Sprouts, heat some oil on the stove over medium heat, then place them face down to let brown for three to five minutes (you may need to turn one over to see if it’s browning the way you like). Season with salt and red pepper flakes (if you like some heat), then stir. Add some honey or agave nectar for some sweetness and taste test.
For a more hands-off approach to the above method, you can roast your Brussel Sprouts at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Try a funky recipe that uses Brussel Sprouts in ways you never would’ve imagined. By way of example, Brussel Sprout tacos are a wonderfully strange, but delightful way to eat them. Serve alongside some guacamole and any other taco sides you love.
Though the idea of a Brussel Sprouts salad might not be your first choice, consider that dressings and sauces go a long way towards masking undesired flavors.
Wherever you are on the love<>hate spectrum of Brussel Sprouts, their story is rather remarkable and encouraging. What once was a vegetable very well on its way out the popularity door, is now a star plant bursting on food blogs and menus. Like many such plants, their history is a fascinating one, and it’s far from over.