[Sca-cooks] Brussels sprouts

[Terry Decker]

> As to their breeding, I am wondering if this all has something to do
> with them being biennial.
> The furst year one gets head cabbages; the second year they get sprouts 
> growing on
> the stems. (maybe only sometimes). Or as described here:
> "After a head of common cabbage is cut from the plant, numerous tiny heads 
> often will grow from the remaining stem in much the same manner as in 
> brussels sprouts."

For brussels sprouts, sprouts appear in the first year, the seed head in the 
second.  Completely the opposite of  "remove the head, get sprouts."


> http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/vegetabletravelers/kohlrabi.html
>
> So did Le Menagier end up with a percursor of what we now call Brussel 
> Sprouts?
> Probably he could have. My thought is that if one wanted to make this 
> recipe, the best modern
> substitute would be an heirloom brussel sprout. Or you could spend two 
> years
> attempting to grow cabbages and then in the second year sprouting cabbages 
> off the stems.

If Menagier had brussels sprouts, he would have had the sprouts and no need 
to describe the process of producing them.

If vague memory serves, you can get sprouts from any of the head cabbages 
under certain conditions.  B. oleracea v. gemmifera just takes the hassle 
out of producing sprouts, which is probably why the initial mutation 
survived and flourished.

>
> What bothers me now is that I thought we had pictures showing them growing 
> in gardens from
> earlier dates. I shall keep looking for those.
>
> Johnnae

I don't recall any pictures of brussels sprouts, but that doesn't mean much. 
I keep finding things I missed or misinterpreted (like the large olive I 
thought was a small avocado until I got look at a better reproduction of the 
painting).  Guess I'll have to keep looking too.

Bear