[Sca-cooks] Brussels sprouts

[Terry Decker]

There may be no practical difference from a culinary point, but I think you 
will find brussels sprouts produce more sprouts and last later in the season 
than regular head cabbage.  In the case of brussels sprouts, a seed head 
does form at the top of the stalk but will not flower and go to seed until 
after a cold season, a process known as vernalization.  It goes to seed in 
the second year.

Bear

>> 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.
>
> I guess the point is that if this mutation simply skips the large head
> phase, I'm not sure that there is a meaningful difference between baby
> cabbage sprouts grown this way and brussels sprouts. I seem to remember
> from my childhood my mother occasionally cutting off the main cabbage
> stalk and harvesting the smaller cabbages along with her brussels
> sprouts. I don't remember them tasting any different, but then I was in
> the stage of development where I didn't like cabbage-type foods (thank
> goodness that went away!)
>
> -- 
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net