And so the countdown continues. 9 more days to Christmas.
Better fatten a turkey or a goose or something.
I forgot to buy a Christmas pudding, but no one eats that here as the weather is too hot. Another tradition that I shall have to forego.
Talking of which, sprouts. Yes, sprouts. Those nasty little bundles of green cabbage-like stuff that smell like farts and give you gas. As if it wasn't enough that they smell like what comes out of the other end after eating.
I really detest them, not enough to stand on a soap box and demand that they be banned, but enough that I am rather thankful not to have Christmas with any of my immediate family who always insist on serving them.
Countless dinner times ended up with me being locked in the dining room, a plate of sprouts, or asparagus (that I rather like now), or the kidney bits in steak and kidney pie lying on a plate congealing into cold. All because I refused to eat what essentially created an allergic reaction in my mouth. Even the appearance of the spider's-web encrusted coal shovel could not entice me.
What is it about sprouts that makes us eat them at Christmas? They are reported to be the most hated vegetable in the UK and the US and the UK seems to grow more of them than anywhere else. I know there are many recipes out there from chefs famous and not so famous, all claiming to make the sprout tasty - but I simply cannot do it. Steam them, fry them, bake them, roast them, pour copious amounts of butter and honey over them - which sort of defeats the purpose of a healthy vegetable and annoys the bees - but I still simply cannot do it.
What is it about Brussels sprouts?
Sprouts, or correctly, Brussels sprouts are a member of the cabbage family, they are the sprout at the end of the stalk. Believed to date back to Roman times - gosh, then they should be called Roman sprouts, they began to be grown widely in Belgium and around Brussels in the 16th Century and that's how they got their name. I can't help thinking that the Romans may have used their powers for ammunition when they ran out of everything else ...
That leads very conveniently into the fact that they stink, not just smell, they pong! The excuse is that they stink when they are overcooked - you should only steam them for 5 minutes, but pick up a bag of uncooked Brussels and take a whiff! They smell.
The stench comes from something called, glucosinolate sinigrin, a sulfurous compound that is supposed to fight cancer. OK so they are good for you. And the Chinese doctors prescribe them for digestive upsets. OK so they keep you going.
Brussels sprouts are packed with Vitamin C (more than an orange, but then again, most fruits have more vitamin C than an orange, we've just been media-hoodwinked into believing oranges = vitamin C). They also have a few other letters as well, Vitamin A (good for eyesight, so are carrots and they don't stink), and Vitamin K, but per 100g fresh parsley, basil and watercress all have more vitamin K than sprouts. I know which I prefer.
Ah ha! but wait, that vitamin K thing is not too good if you eat too much of it and you have high blood pressure, it can act as a clotting agent.
So there is a downside.
Which makes me wonder why a Swedish man, Linus Urbanec would even consider eating 31 Brussels sprouts in a minute just to get into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008.
Gosh I am glad I wasn't in the same room as him.
As a parting shot - no pun intended, I leave your with a Spike Milligan Poem:
Norrington Blit,
Ate aught but grit,
Aught but grit and mussels,
Save for a bag of sprouts from Brussels,
Or was it Oldham?
BAH STINKY HUMBUG!
There'll be no Brussels sprouts on my table this Christmas.
Foods high in Vitamin K
11 Things about Brussels sprouts
Photo of Brussels sprouts by Zsuzsanna Kilian of Budapest, (http://www.freeimages.com/profile/nkzs)
Photoshopped by me.
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