Brussel sprouts

[Hopkirk]

What are they?

At Christmas 'er indoors bought sprouts still attached to the branch. It set me thinking, what was the plant trying to make?

Are they flowers, buds for new branches or something else?

[wildwood]

Virtually all our vegetables are 'man made' by selective breeding. Sprouts belong to the same branch as cabbage. Most of our vegetables available make no ecological sense in that the desired part of the plant has been purposely increased.

[HowardKennitby]

They are the seeds of evil and should always be destroyed.

[ChuckFickens]

To answer the actual question, they are buds of flowers.

[seadogg]

We grow them and they have to be staked in the winds we get which backs up wildwood's point. If they had naturally evolved I guess hey wouldn't need support. Or maybe they just wouldn't be found high above the North Sea!

[boxtops]

Next door's parrot loves the stalks, so they do serve some purpose :-)

[Hopkirk]

Thanks all. Interesting and useful.

I think Howard is wrong though.

[tamborine]

I havent got a pan big enough to cook stalks with sprouts. How does your wife manage ?

[Hopkirk]

Sore point.

She can't cook.

[Old_Geezer]

Howard may be right. An answer to, "What are they ?", is certainly, "Revolting to taste", though.

[craft1948]

I love brussel sprouts................

[Ann]

Me too Craft - we love them hot or cold!! We had some today from a stalk bought at Christmas in Asda and had been left outside my back door. They were perfectly ok and were gorgeous and sweet, its always known they taste better for having cold and frost on them ......

[slinkycat]

Mmmmm, sprouts, lovely:)

[craft1948]

I like them with garlic butter.............

[douglas9401]

Mmmmmmmmm, sprouts. :)

[237SJ]

They`re the buds of a certain type of cabbage. My Dad used to grow them and used to swear blind (as did all the farmers) that they are much better when they have had some frost on them.

[slinkycat]

Nice with chestnuts, or brown sauce, or in bubble and squeak or just on their own...

[owdhamer]

wind generators

[craft1948]

True owdhammer, I once ate rather a lot of sprouts and then played a squash match................you can't blame anyone else on a squash court :-(

[Andyvon]

Sprouts are a brassica - they are very closely related to cabbage and broccoli. Despite all the scaremongering about GM foods, sprouts are another example of a plant that has been genetically modified out of recognition to provide food. In fact, almost everything we eat has been modified out of recognition. Wheat doesn't look like grass, potatoes and tomatoes are gross monstrosities compared to the natural iem. Carrots are naturally purple but they were genetically modified to be orange in honour of the Dutch royal family (House of Orange).

We can't have sprouts I'm afraid as my wife is allergic to them. They make her itch and come out in spots. Shame.........!

[237SJ]

My Dad grew sprouts for all of my life. They were never genetically modified.