Sprouts anyone?

[Clitheroekid]

I personally find sprouts one of the most nauseating and disgusting foods ever to be put on a plate. Even the smell of them makes me feel like I'm going to start gagging.

I therefore find it incomprehensible that some people actually like eating them, and I was wondering how many of those people genuinely enjoy them as against those who merely say they like them because they consider the obnoxious little pellets to be `healthy' and therefore conferring of virtue upon the eater.

So in the confidence of the internet confessional what's your real view of them?

[swill453]

Delicious, my veg of choice with anything at this time of year.

Almost perfect just steamed, but sauteed with butter and some crumbled bacon... wow.

Scott.

[Lootman]

It's true, and almost nobody outside the UK eat them. In some countries they are fed to goats, I believe. Disgusting spherical objects with all the taste of lettuce and all the texture and integrity of a sodden paper towel.

Even so, compared to swedes, turnips and parsnips, they are the divine nectre of the Gods. Nobody does bad veggies like the Brits.

[staffordian]

Cooked in the usual (boiled or steamed) way, they are close to being the work of the devil, but roasted with bacon and nuts (eg pecan, cashew or peanut) , drizzled with oil, they are actually very pleasant.

[Lootman]

Cooked in the usual (boiled or steamed) way, they are close to being the work of the devil, but roasted with bacon and nuts (eg pecan, cashew or peanut) , drizzled with oil, they are actually very pleasant.

Anything tastes great cooked with all that, even cardboard.

But anything that requires that much seasoning and flavouring to be tolerable is, indeed, the work of the devil.

[Dod101]

Like Snorvey probably, I was brought up on them from my father's garden and actually would go out of my way at this time of year to find them. I actively enjoy them. Most who do not, over boil cabbage as well and then complain about it.

Dod

[UncleEbenezer]

I love my beansprouts. Great in a salad, stirfry, or a stuffing.

I hope you didn't mean the stunted dwarf cabbages that are particularly good for decontaminating toxic land because of their ability to absorb heavy metal residues?

[AleisterCrowley]

Sprouts? Lovely as long as they are not overcooked, should be al dente with a nice nutty flavour. And I love swedes and turnips, mashed with butter. Lovely winter food

[Alaric]

Checking my personal prejudices, if it's green (and vegetable) I'll eat it. Other colours, only perhaps.

Growers are rediscovering discarded colours, For instance, carrots, that might be assumed to be red, are also available in purple and yellow. French beans, otherwise green, too of course.

[didds]

Love them!

Particularly in bubble 'n' squeak with swede etc. Keeps me warm at night!

didds

[midnightcatprowl]

Absolutely hate them - despite particularly liking most other greens yum yum to cabbage, cauliflower, kale, spinach, and so forth - but there is something quite awful about sprouts. Even cooked correctly I still find the smell and taste quite offensive but for some strange reason even people who cook other greens well seem to feel impelled to boil sprouts to death. I occasionally eat in the restaurant of a particular local garden centre where the food is generally so good that I suspect more people go there for the restaurant than for the plants etc. They always have lots of lovely veg, not overcooked, to go with the meals but as soon as sprout season comes around they lose the plot and you have to avert your eyes from a tray of almost yellow soggy sprouts.

N.B. Despite the above comments since moving to Bedfordshire I've acquired the taste for the local delicacy of sprout tops. Why the leaves at the top of the stalk should taste so different from the grim globes below I've no idea but they do.

[kiloran]

I love sprouts me. I like to crush them with my tongue on the roof of my mouth and swallow 'em whole.

I really can't understand why people don't like them.

If you can crush them against the roof of your mouth, they are definitely overcooked. Anything less than overcooked and they are brilliant.
Prefer them in Jan-Feb when they have had a bit of winter, earlier ones aren't so tasty.

--kiloran

[JMN2]

Taste great but make me fart and smell like a December kale field with sheep.

[6Tricia]

From the votes, Clitheroekid, it would appear that the majority don't agree with you!

Personally, I like them and use various methods of cooking them - they make a wonderful soup too. A friend, praising the soup, was astonished when I told her what the ingredients were! (Like you, she is not a fan of the vegetable as such).

Tricia

[UncleEbenezer]

As always with the poll, I say "None of the above".

In this case the third option was close enough. I do actually rather dislike them, but I'll eat a few when it's required of me. And not "because it's good for me" - there's always an alternative that's good for me and that I like better if that were the reason.

[Meatyfool]

Ye gods!

No-one has mentioned eating them raw!

Even better!

Yummmmmmmmmmm!

Meatyfool..

[Clitheroekid]

From the votes, Clitheroekid, it would appear that the majority don't agree with you!

I quite agree. But someone I mentioned it to said that I might be a "supertaster" - someone whose taste buds are sensitive to a bitter chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil which is present in sprouts.

Having looked into it, this seems to be quite a likely explanation - http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ... ster.shtml

It's also interesting that out of the 32 votes 6 people don't like the taste of sprouts, which is remarkably close to the figure of 25% of the population being supertasters as mentioned in the article.

I'm actually quite gratified by the outcome - I can now say with authority that people who enjoy sprouts only do so because they have inferior taste!

[UncleEbenezer]

Yes, they're a bitter taste. I always wonder if that's connected with their appetite for taking up minerals, such as (for example) any lead or [expletive deleted] there might be in the soil.

On the other hand, bitter can be delicious. Think coffee, various liquors, beers, for instance.

As for taste, I measure the deterioration of mine by what chillies I'm comfortable with. Getting worried about the blandness of supermarket scotch bonnets, and wondering when something more powerful will reach our shops since my favourite greengrocer closed.

[swill453]

Yes, they're a bitter taste.

They're not, in the absolute sense.

They only taste bitter if you're sensitive to 6-n-propylthiouracil.

Scott.

[tea42]

Lot of folic acid in there, apparently protects against ageing, cancer and alzheimers according to various studies.

I like rocket kale and watercress which contain the same sort of things with the same benefits as sprouts. On TV some farmer producing sprouts for the large supermarkets claimed he is now growing sweeter sprouts to widen their appeal. He reckoned lots of sprout haters have never tried his product which is a recent development. So if you hate sprouts it may be worth trying them again?