Brussels Sprouts: Beauty, Nutrition, and Flavor

Do you love Brussels Sprouts or hate them…or are you indifferent? I found myself in the latter camp until I accidentally grew some Brussels sprouts in my garden last year. That experience changed my mind forever. From the garden to the kitchen, I discovered so many things to love about Brussels sprouts’ beauty, nutrition, and flavor.

Keep reading—you may find new and unexpected appreciation for this vegetable, as well!

Overview:

Brussels Sprouts by Accident

Beauty

Nutrition

Flavor

Planting Brussels Sprouts

Growing Brussels Sprouts

Harvesting Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts by Accident

Though my family occasionally (and dutifully) ate Brussels sprouts for the sake of a varied, healthy diet, they were never my favorite vegetable. Until I accidentally grew some last year.

Planting wasn’t the accident. Buying them was. Browsing the cruciferous seedlings at my favorite local garden center for broccoli, which always does well in my garden, I started to panic that they were already sold out. The tables only held cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts seedlings. Then to my relief, there they were, at the very end of the table: “Jade Cross.” Recognizing the name, I grabbed a pack and made my purchase.

Afterwards, the 4-pack sat on my front porch for some time until I had time or energy to dig up a section of garden for them. (Rather, I was waiting for my husband to have time and energy, since I was pregnant and had to watch myself.) When I finally went to plant my seedlings, I checked the label for plant spacing. OOOOHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO! “Jade Cross” was Brussels sprouts, not broccoli! By now it was too late to return them, and I didn’t have room in my garden for BOTH Brussels sprouts AND broccoli. So, reluctantly I planted them, not too hopeful about the results.

Well, they grew fine. Except for all the cabbage worms devouring the new growth. (If I had used row cover soon enough, the leaves would have been nice enough to eat. I’ve always used the tender young broccoli leaves in stir fries or omelets, so I expect these would have been similar.)

By the end of summer, I had four stout trunks full of tiny buds. As the weather cooled, the cabbage worms must have gone dormant, because the top leaves started to grow healthy, replacing the old leaves riddled with holes.

Beauty

As the older, lower leaves died and fell off, the amazingly beautiful design of our Creator was revealed. The buds—the Brussels SPROUTS—spiraled upward from the base in perfect rows, reminding me of DNA strands.

Not only that, some of my sprouts formed loosely instead of in tight heads. (This may have resulted from the heat in August and September.) On the heavy stalk, the loose buds unfurled like frilly, green peonies or roses. Seeing their beauty gave me new respect for this humble vegetable. In fact, the beauty in these rose-like sprouts tickled me so much I included them in a list of thanksgivings!

Who but a loving Creator would bestow such beauty on such an unpretentious vegetable?

Nutrition

Brussels sprouts not only hold secrets pleasing to the eye, but also pack in a lot of nutrition.

The exact percentages of Daily Value for each nutrient vary from source to source, but it remains clear that these are Vitamin K and Vitamin C powerhouses. Brussels sprouts are also high in Vitamin A as well as other less common minerals. Additionally, they contain folate, which is especially important for pregnant women.

Check it out for yourself:

10 Ways Brussels Sprouts Benefit Your Health on Healthline

What to Know About Brussels Sprouts on Medical News Today

USDA’s Food Data Central results for Brussels Sprouts, Raw

The nutritional benefits of Brussels sprouts makes it worth finding a recipe your family likes!

Flavor

After picking our first bowl-ful of sprouts from the garden, I quickly searched for new Brussels sprouts recipes.

I had grown up eating Brussels sprouts, but we usually had them boiled whole with ginger or curry powder. They were okay but not great. Certainly not something our sometimes picky daughter would eat.

The first recipe I found looked good. Parmesan makes everything better, right?

Together, my daughter and I prepared this Roasted Brussels Sprouts recipe from Chelsea’s Messy Apron. After we had mixed all the ingredients, she asked to try one. “Sure, go ahead!” I replied. But I held my breath, fearing the moment she would taste the bitterness of the raw Brussels sprouts and let loose a litany of disgust. Instead, she gave me a double thumbs-up and begged for more. I could hardly keep her hands out of the pan as I waited for the oven to finish preheating!

Our 5-year-old ended up not liking the roasted sprouts. (What is wrong with her? My husband and I devoured them!) However, she LOVED them raw. So next time, I reserved a bowl for her of uncooked Brussels sprouts, and roasted the rest for us grown-ups. She ate the WHOLE BOWL.

I prepared this dish multiple times last year, and with the onset of fall, I have pulled out the recipe again. Recently I served these Brussels sprouts alongside steak and sweet potato fries for a colorful meal.

Not only is this recipe quick and easy enough for weekday dinners, these Brussels sprouts are also a worthy accompaniment to Thanksgiving or Christmas (or even Easter) feasts.

Chelsea’s recipe is definitely a keeper!

Planting Brussels Sprouts

If you already love Brussels sprouts or have decided to try them for the first time, you may want to try growing them yourself.

Brussels sprouts, like other vegetables in the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, etc.) are cool-weather plants. Depending where you live, the best time to plant is either in early spring, or where winters are milder, in late summer for a fall/winter harvest.

You can start seeds indoors, sow them directly in the garden, or purchase seedlings from a garden center near you. If starting Brussels sprouts from seeds, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has a helpful frost date calculator.

Growing Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are not difficult to raise (at least from my one year of experience). I wasn’t able to grow them this year due to the seed shortage early in the COVID shutdown, but I hope to try again next year.

The main problem I had was cabbage worms riddling the leaves with holes. Fortunately, they did not damage the growing sprouts, but the plants were unsightly during the hottest part of the summer.

Harvesting Brussels Sprouts

Never having grown Brussels sprouts before, I searched the web for when to harvest and how to store my bounty. (I read Bonnie Plants’ Growing Brussels Sprouts and Harvest to Table’s How to Harvest and Store Brussels Sprouts.)

One universal piece of advice I found was that heat will make looser, more bitter-tasting buds. Leave them in the garden until frost, as frost will make them sweeter. (I know this to be true with kale.) When I grew Brussels sprouts, I feared all the buds would unfurl in the heat of early autumn and be inedible. Anxiously waiting until frost, I finally harvested enough for a meal. Thankfully, they were not bitter as I had feared!

There are different methods for harvesting Brussels sprouts. You can twist the buds off, starting at the bottom, and new ones will continue to form for the length of the season. Or you can cut off the top leaves so all the sprouts mature at once, then chop off the whole stalk and store it in a cool place. (My refrigerator didn’t have room for 4 big stalks.)

When picking the sprouts off the stalk, I recommend using garden gloves, especially if it is cold out. Grasping the stalk from above and reaching down to the lowest sprouts, place your thumb on the side of a sprout and bend it sideways (or push down) until it pops off.  Continue “rubbing” the rest of the sprouts off in this manner.

The storage advice I found was varied. Harvested Brussels sprouts will last for weeks, some sources said. Another source said to use them within 2-3 days. My experience suggests a longer storage time.  After trimming the sprouts of old, dirty, or bug-eaten outer leaves, I stored them in a plastic container in the refrigerator for almost a week. They were still in good condition when I was ready to cook.

Summary

Brussels sprouts provide beauty, flavor, and nutritional benefits. They are not hard to grow, and provide interest in the garden pointing to our Creator’s amazing design. They contain high amounts of Vitamin K and Vitamin C, among others. And when cooked the right way, they can be amazingly delicious.

If you have similar (or differing) experience growing or cooking Brussels sprouts, I would love to hear about it! If you haven’t, why not give them a try?

Top image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay