ickle.org » brussels sprouts

An ickle and pungent relative of the yummy cabbage and the tasty cauliflower, Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera is, quite simply, evil. They don't come from Brussels, but they do grow on stems, looking oddly like little clusters of

green haemmorhoids. Notoriously difficult to cook properly, the humble Brussels Sprout usually ends up either hard and bitter or mushy and tasteless, yet curiously omnipresent, lurking on your Christmas dinnerplate. Children shun them, adults hide them under their napkins, and yet every year they are served anew. Tradition is a very strange thing.

MP