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Kids don't like them

It's probably a rather obvious point, however: what is the point of an article on brussel sprouts if it doesn't mention the obvious fact that children avoid them like the plague? It's come up in serious discussions regarding food consumption and the development of children etc. Mattabat 06:07, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Preserved but removed speculation. Wikidemo 11:35, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There really should be some comment in the article about this. Brussels sprouts are famous in popular culture as the most hated of all foods for children, rivaled only by liver and broccoli. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.82.90.141 (talk) 20:50, 25 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It's a meme, a media-perpetrated 'urban' legend, not a fact. IN OTHER WORDS: Poles/Russians/the Irish are all drunks, Jews/Arabs/Americans are all greedy to the point of absurdity, black people [etc etc etc...] AND CHILDREN ALL HATE HATE HAAAATE BRUSSELS SPROUTS! The depressing bit here is that, like some less-than-intelligent and more media-impressionable people tend to believe these stereotypes, a larger portion of elementary school-age children (due to less mature cognitive skills and little ability to identify and discern sources) actually buys into that crap, the paradox being that by perpetuating this meme/legend, we are actually creating the phenomenon that it claims to refer to. ALSO, kids can assert their independent streak by being horrid contrarians and may resist anything that is overly pushed upon them, so overly health-conscious mums tend to drive them away from real food and into the cookie jar. Try forbidding sprouts and broccoli while the rest of the family munches on them with joy, and you're more than likely to find kids begging for them in a couple weeks. Fact: kids who've never heard of brussels sprouts from mum or TV treat them much like any other vegetable or side dish. Aadieu (talk) 00:30, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, Aadieu, you need to settle down. First of all, the stereotype of kids eating not liking brussels sprouts isn't derogatory (or downright horrible) like your racial slurs are. What it's more like is the stereotype of college students eating nothing but Top Ramen. But most importantly, isn't the point of Wikipedia to not include peoples' personal opinions or "original research"? We just talk about facts, and a verifiable fact is that kids are portrayed in American media as strongly disliking brussles sprouts. What's more, if Mattabat has a point and there really are documented discussions about the negative impact "anti-vegetable" stereotypes have on children's health then it should definitely be included, precisely for the reason you think it shouldn't.
Here are just a few quickly Googled news stories and blog posts. I'm not sure what is defined as an authoritative source to Wikipedia, but here are some examples at least:
--69.169.163.169 (talk) 23:12, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Children’s dislike of the vegetable is not universal. If there were to be a mention of it in the article (which would only serve to further perpetuate it since most kids don’t like it not because they think it tastes bad, but because at an early age, they heard that it tastes bad—children see, children do), then it should definitely have some sort of cultural qualification. In many places in the world, children do not have this hang-up about them. The taste of Brussels-sprouts depends on how it is prepared. North Americans may always prepare it in a bad way, but in a lot of cultures, they prepare it in tasty ways, so this hang-up may not exist at all. In fact, if there is to be a mention of its taste, it would be more objective to say that it requires careful preparation to avoid bitterness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Synetech (talk • contribs) 18:37, 30 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It is a meme or a stereotype, I have to agree - and would definitely think that such text does not belong except when stated as a common believe. As a kid I always loved Brussel Sprouts, and Liver too btw (personal #1). I loved black coffee/no sugar as a kid, and preferred to drink a little of a good Trappist over a common table beer (which wasn't illegal for me back then, and would still not be, not in Belgium). I wasn't the only kid who loved Brussel Sprouts, those vegetables were a regular on Belgian school menu's and cantina's, so why the difference? Mostly culture, there was no negative predisposition from my parents, so I learned to eat it, and learned to appreciate it's taste. As long as we don't put those things in our own head first, we will see that kids learn to adopt easily. For pete's sake, I have seen kids refusing to touch food with a single speck in it, now you answer, how does this start - all guilty aren't we? Let's slowly introduce a good variety of fruits and vegetables to our kids, get them used to different tastebud kickers and textures, or do you wan't to keep feeding your kids just white rice with yogurt, or white chicken breast and mashed potatoes - absolutely no specks? In my own live there is not a single thing that I didn't try, and I have encountered a few things I didn't like, but I all tried them first: sun-dried octopus, testicles, goat brain - but I do know people who enjoy those too, I mean somebody gave me culinary advise for those ... Jdesmet (talk) 04:02, 27 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I liked them as a child, moreso than most vegetables as they have flavour to them. This meme seems to have started due to bad experiences in (British) post-war austerity with poor quality vegetables, overcooked into a nasty stinky pulp, like the dreaded "school cabbage". I don't think a wikipedia article should go out of its way to mention such a dubious factoid.82.71.30.178 (talk) 19:45, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Setting aside all that interesting banter, there is indeed a genetic reason that some people taste Brussels sprouts as bitter and some do not:
http://metro.co.uk/2011/12/23/if-you-hate-brussels-sprouts-it-could-be-in-your-dna-say-scientists-265072/
https://www.23andme.com/health/Bitter-Taste-Perception/

Kortoso (talk) 17:58, 3 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Preparation

How should sprouts be best cooked? Cooking time?

davidzuccaro 07:26, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I'd say: Cooking time 7-10 Minutes, but u can test the sprouts from time to time to get the best cooking time

There was a link in the external links area to Cooking For Engineers which provides a well tested method of preparing brussels sprouts, but I guess the wikipedia overlords determined it wasn't worthy of linking... If someone wants to put it back it's: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe.php?id=136&title=Braised+Brussels+Sprouts I don't want to put something up that someone's removed before though... --69.105.119.167 05:19, 13 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Toss them with oil, salt and pepper, roast them in an oven at 425º for 15 minutes, turn and roast for another five, and keep turning every five minutes until they're soft and the outer leaves are blackened. --24.3.194.81 (talk) 16:36, 25 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wash them and cut the largest ones in half so that they will cook more evenly, then steam for ten minutes and serve hot.

Spelling

Alright Wikipedians...I give up...What exactly is the correct spelling for "brussel sprouts"? Is it:

  1. Brussel sprout
  2. Brussels sprout
  3. Brussel sprouts
  4. Brussels sprouts

Is there such a thing as a singular and plural form of the word? If we can figure this out, we can add this to the article I think. --HappyCamper 19:27, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't always see eye to eye with others on common names, but I have never heard them referred to as anything but "Brussels sprouts" in real life. I have never thought of it as a plural for which there is a singular form, but as just the name for the thing, like a leaf of "greens" is never referred to as "a green". -- WormRunner 19:41, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
According to my Collins dictionary, Brussels sprout, Brussels sprouts, and "Brussel sprout" are used. The term "Brussel sprouts" is not used. Ah, satisfying :o) --HappyCamper 19:47, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Simply for the sake of adding to the fun, you will note three pictures at the bottom of the article, and if you click on the extreme right picture, you will see that the stalks have a little placard next to it, whereon we see written "Brussell sprout" (although to be honest, only the "ell" from "Brussell" is actually visible). Hi There 03:03, 12 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
How is it that the Collins dictionary picks the one version that's most common and claims it isn't used at all? DreamGuy 08:34, 21 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Funny how those dictionaries go. In dutch/flemish you would refer to the city as "Brussel", but in English the city is called "Brussels", probably because of the french/walloon "Bruxelles". So point is is "Brussels" in English for the city name, and wouldn't "From Brussels" still be written as "Brussels" (like "from England" would be written as "English")? Jdesmet (talk) 04:20, 27 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Origin

Commented out is that they originate from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is mentioned in the reference, but it seems very dubious. The quote reads "They originate from Europe through the Asian countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan", which is nonsensical; and on the same reference it reads: "Brussel sprouts, Brassica oleracea var gemmifera, are known to be native to cool regions in northern Europe" which is in line with all other sources.

I added another quote from a reference that mentions ancient Rome, and an earlier date in Europe. This may be untrue as well. Several of the sources are quite unreliable, saying obviously untrue things such as that most of the US crop comes from Long Island (it is in fact 2%). Wikidemo 11:37, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I also take issue about the part that says (quoting): "The Brussels sprout has long been popular in Brussels, Belgium and may have originated there.[1]" The provided reference is good, but has been interpreted too freely. I have used another good reference at http://www.plattelandswijzer.be/default.aspx?PageId=558, however in dutch. I am not sure how to deal with translations in Wiki for sourcing. So main point is that it became first popular under the name "Choux de Bruxelles", hence the name "Brussels Sprout". Probably because of the local markets, it started getting popular around Brussels, and other main cities in Flanders. From there it proliferated further to Northern France. So with all this, and maybe still using the original reference, I would like to rephrase this simply as "The Brussel sprout has long been popular in Belgium". I definitely would not dare to say that it originated there. Jdesmet (talk) 04:40, 27 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have replaced the former single entry (about 4 recipes) with a link to a much more extensive recipe list (and I agree with a post above that the cooking for engineers link probably should be put back, but will wait to see if anyone comments). I also augmented the links list a bit (full disclosure: I maintain the home-gardening site linked).

Eric Walker 06:29, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Produce digestive transit?

The page says:

"Fresh Brussels sprouts can make a healthy, crunchy snack when prepared, but consuming this way can produce digestive transit."

Is this last thing a euphemism for "cause diarrhoea"? Or is it meant to be "speed up digestive transit"? All raw vegetables go through you pretty quickly, so this might not be remarkable to for Brussels, and all foods produce digestive transit of course.

Change it if you agree! 155.198.233.109 (talk) 20:01, 27 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Spicy Sprouts?

I just finished cooking and eating a side of sprouts (LOVE them) that had a distinct flavor of horseradish--even to the point of clear my sinuses because they were so spicy.

Has anyone else heard of a species that has this attribute? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Maerikae (talk • contribs) 18:22, 18 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sprout

If you leave them to grow, do these 'sprouts' grow into full-sized cabbage heads? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 18:42, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This isn't Yahoo Answers but no. They mature on the side of the stock (an image is provided), depending on the strain. However, there is a formation on top of the stock called a "brussels top". It's usually not sold in markets (not sure if commercial producers discard it or use it for something). It looks a little more like a cabbage - here are some pictures.[1][2]. And if you leave it for longer it forms a "seed head" kind of like a dandelion.[3].
As to the last question, brussels sprouts are a kind of Brassica oleracea, which also includes (among other things) Kale and Chinese broccoli. There's a fairly common flavor that's a little bit like wild mustard or mustard seeds. I wonder if it's that. Also, Brussels Sprouts are famous for producing strong flavors if not cooked just right. Not sure if you want to go to this length, but there are food science journals and books about brussels sprouts flavor.[4][5]. People say that blanching brings out these flavors more than other cooking methods.Wikidemo (talk) 20:25, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Only problem with that is: some people LIKE the strong flavours, so it isn't necessarily cooking them just *right* when they turn out bland. They can, in fact, be used as a flavour-creating additive to soups, gruels, etc. Aadieu (talk) 00:39, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
> This isn't Yahoo Answers
No, but the term 'sprout' usually evokes a sense of seeds and germination, so a lot of people think of any sort of sprout as basically being a baby (read unfinished) plant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Synetech (talk • contribs) 18:42, 30 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Same family?

In the broccoli page, it states that there is only one species whose cultivars are kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, and brussel sprouts. I don't know about collard greens though.72.78.8.81 (talk) 20:59, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nutrition?

I'd like to request that someone add a section about nutrition. I have no idea how nutritious brussels sprouts are, but that's what I came to this page for. Also, I recommend that the Wikipedia staff remove the "they taste like poo and they are shit" comment above. It's unsigned, and the unnecessary vulgarity doesn't contribute to this discussion. Cowgod14 (talk) 19:57, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A nutrition section is an excellent idea; if you go to the broccoli page, you'll find a nutrition infobox and a link to a USDA nutrition data base. If you have a few minutes to spare, you can copy the infobox code from the broccoli page and fill in the appropriate data about Brussels sprouts. Otherwise another editor (maybe me!) will get around to it eventually... but meanwhile, be bold! I've removed the talk page comment you mentioned, but in the future, feel free to remove any instance of vandalism yourself-- as a registered editor, you are Wikipedia staff. Read the talk page guidelines for information about when it's ok to edit other editors' comments, and if you're unsure, well, do exactly what you just did: call attention to the matter on the talk page, or ask somebody else. Thanks for your work, and happy editing! --Fullobeans (talk) 23:49, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've added it. You can find other nutritional values at USDA National Nutrient Database Tremello22 (talk) 16:09, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

England/UK

This doesn't turn up as much as it used to, but as I've just corrected it in this article I will mention it here: please do not write "England" when you mean "the United Kingdom". Quite apart from the annoyance it causes, much more important is that it's factually inaccurate. Thanks. 86.132.142.153 (talk) 16:44, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Other Points

A few basics that perhaps ought or ought not to go in here;

- In Europe at least, Brussels are a winter veg
- Brussels are a traditional (albeit sometimes unwelcome) constituent of a traditional British (+elsewhere?) Christmas dinner
- Brussels are usually sold loose by weight but are increasingly also being offered by supermarkets on the stalk
- Brussels often find themselves the scapegoat for a post-Sunday lunch bout of flatulence

Any thoughts welcome. Traveller palm (talk) 19:26, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Popularity - repellant taste - banning from warship

Several of the foregoing comments on the discussion page note the unpopularity of Brussels sprouts but have been unable to come up with much in the way of citation.

I would be interested to see if other editors believe the attached article passes WP:Notability. It discusses the case of a British warship captain who has banned brussels sprouts from being served aboard his warship on the grounds they are the devil's vegetable and the only thing I do not like, and the only thing I hate whilst at the same time noting that the ban had nothing to do with alleged generation of excess flatulence. Kind regards--Calabraxthis (talk) 10:28, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Should the article be renamed "Brussels sprouts"?

Should the article be renamed "Brussels sprouts"? Usually articles should be named in the singular, but exceptions are made for words which are almost always used in the plural (e.g. corn flakes, scissors, grits). Is this the case for this plant/vegetable/dish? --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 20:51, 19 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good question, Jorge. I would say no. The examples you gave are different in that "corn flakes" are always sold as corn flakes. Scissors, if unassembled, would no longer work (kind of like pants and eyeglasses:), and grits are always sold as grits. For comparison, I looked up pea, another food that is always eaten "plurally". The article is "pea," so I think for the sake of consistency, this article should be "sprout". Let us know if you find any vegetable or fruit articles with plural names. DBlomgren (talk) 19:59, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Growing season and harvest

I think it is important to specify the growing season (spring? summer?) and the harvest time. When do you normally find fresh Brussels sprouts in stores in the United States for example? Could someone add this information? DBlomgren (talk) 19:50, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sprout-like buds form on the stalk of normal cabbage after harvest

I have noticed, when gardening, that if, after the harvest, after the cabbage itself is severed from the stem, if weather is still warm and clement, the remnant stem will after some days grow vertically to a height of between half a meter and a meter, with a noticeable tapering quality, being as thick as the remnant stem at the bottom and coming to a narrow point at the top. Buds will appear all over its surface and tiny leaves will form, which will curl up into Brussels sprout-like formations, which will mature, increasing slowly in size over a period of weeks. They can be cut off the stem and are by all appearances, color, texture, and flavor, normal Brussels sprouts. Has anyone else observed this? Do all cultivars of cabbage do this, or only some? Is there some soil nutrient that is required for their formation?

Farting

do brussel sprouts really make you fart? if so why? --Lerdthenerd wiki defender 20:40, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

nutrients per sprout

The article has a good nutrition box, but just "per 100g", with no info about how many sprouts this would be. A one-pound bag of Trader Joes Brussels Sprouts fresh US (California?) is labeled for a serving size of 4 sprouts (84g), implying 21g per sprout. Weighing a random group of ten, the actual weight is 7 to 21g each, averaging 12.5g each. So maybe it would be fair to say, 5-10 sprouts per 100g? The current usda.gov page says 19g/sprout.

It is also notable that although the article says that Vit K is the most outstanding nutrient (169% per 100g) the current standard US "Nutrition Facts" package label does not mention Vit K (and TJ does not mention it anywhere else on the pkg either). It seems like the article text should probably have more to say about Vit K. -71.174.188.43 (talk) 14:13, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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