Recipe: The Crispiest Brussels Sprouts Ever!

My grandpa made this recipe for me and ever since, it's been a household classic. These brussels sprouts are so crispy, that even veggie haters will love them – which I can personally attest to, as I was once a veggie hater myself! (hard to believe, right?) But before we get into the recipe, it's important to learn a bit more about these delectable treats and what makes them so special!

What Are Brussels Sprouts?

The most common method of preparing Brussels sprouts for cooking begins with cutting the buds off the stalk. Any surplus stem is cut away, and any loose surface leaves are peeled and discarded. Once cut and cleaned, the buds are typically cooked by boiling, steaming, stir frying, grilling, slow cooking, or roasting. This process is done for up to 45 minutes and to ensure even cooking throughout, buds of a similar size are usually chosen. Some cooks make a single cut or a cross in the center of the stem to aid the penetration of heat. The cross cut may, however, be ineffective, with it being commonly believed to cause the sprouts to be waterlogged when boiled.

Why you should eat Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts boast high levels of many nutrients and have been linked to several health benefits. Below are 8 ways Brussels sprouts may benefit your health.

1. Brussels sprouts are low in calories but high in many nutrients, especially fiber, vitamin K, and vitamin C.

2. Brussels sprouts are high in antioxidants. This helps prevent cell damage in your body.

3. Brussels sprouts are high in fiber, which can promote regularity, support digestive health, and reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

4. Brussels sprouts are high in vitamin K, a nutrient important for blood clotting and bone metabolism.

5. The fiber in Brussels sprouts may help keep your blood sugar levels stable.

6. Brussels sprouts are high in antioxidants and contain compounds that may help decrease inflammation.

7. Brussels sprouts are high in vitamin C, an antioxidant that’s important for immune health, iron absorption, collagen production, and the growth and repair of tissues.

8. Brussels sprouts are simple to prepare, and you can enjoy them in a variety of delicious side dishes and main courses.

History of the Brussels Sprout

Forerunners to modern Brussels sprouts were probably cultivated in Ancient Rome. Brussels sprouts as they are now known were grown possibly as early as the 13th century in what is now Belgium. The first written reference dates to 1587. During the 16th century, they enjoyed a popularity in the southern Netherlands that eventually spread throughout the cooler parts of Northern Europe.

History of Brussels

Although the region has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the oldest known reference to Brussels dates to the 10th century, when it had the Frankish name Bruocsella, which means “settlement in the marshes.” The settlement at that time was a part of Lower Lotharingia, or

Lower Lorraine, which later became known as the duchy of Brabant. Brussels owes its development to its location on the Senne (Flemish: Zenne) River, which flows from south to north, and an east-west economic route linking towns on the Rhine, such as Cologne (now in Germany), with Brugge (French: Bruges), Ieper (French: Ypres), and other towns in the county of Flanders. At the point where road and river crossed, a market and bartering place developed under the protection of the dukes of Brabant. By the 12th century, Brussels was surrounded by defensive ramparts with towers and fortified gateways.

During the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, Brussels grew to become one of the major towns of the duchy of Brabant. Its economic mainstay was the manufacture of luxury fabrics, which were exported to fairs in Paris, Venice, the Champagne region of France, and elsewhere. The cloth trade made fortunes for a few enterprising merchant families, who developed into seven dynasties that, with the help of the duke of Brabant, acquired a position of complete political mastery. In control of business and municipal affairs, they also exercised power as magistrates, giving rulings on disputes arising among the inhabitants, as well as acting as a court of appeal for neighbouring areas. The prevailing regime was, in fact, strongly plutocratic in nature.

Abuse of such powers provoked violent popular uprisings in 1280, 1303, 1360, and 1421. This last upheaval led to a more equitable system of government, with local powers divided between the patrician families and the emergent guilds of craftsmen and other workers. Gradually, however, the patrician elite regained political control; as late as 1719 a popular revolt led by Frans Anneessens ended with his public execution.

Belgian Involvement in WWI

Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France, and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the Rape of Belgium due to German excesses. Belgium assumed control of the German colonies of Ruanda-Urundi (modern-day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and in 1924 the League of Nations mandated them to Belgium. In the aftermath of the First World War, Belgium annexed the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.

German forces again invaded the country in May 1940, and 40,690 Belgians, over half of them Jews, were killed during the subsequent occupation and the Holocaust. From September 1944 to February 1945 the Allies liberated Belgium. After World War II, a general strike forced King Leopold III to abdicate in 1951 in favor of his son, Prince Baudouin, since many Belgians felt he had collaborated with Germany during the war. The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis; Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Brussels Sprouts and Their Troubled Past

Few people realize the intense, convoluted and internecine controversies that rage in the world of vegetable folklorists, particularly those devoting their lives to the folklore of the Brussels Sprout. These dour scholars generally gather in the darker corners of academe, preferring potting sheds and greenhouses to the more usual bars and senior common rooms frequented by their colleagues.

Last year, at the annual gathering of the VFS (Vegetable Folklore Society), there was a massive debate over three conflicting theories of why people cut a cross in the base of a Brussels sprout before cooking it.

The Catholics, led by Pope Francis, maintained that it is a Celtic equal-armed cross, and was first done by St Patrick himself, to bless the humble green vegetable before eating it. They maintain that the earliest illustrations of St Patrick holding a shamrock are actually pictures of him blessing a Brussels sprout, which was later mistaken for a shamrock.

The equally passionate contention of the Norse theorists was that it was originally a

Gyfu or Gebo rune (shaped like an X) and symbolised Odin’s sacrifice on the World Tree. This theory was given extra credence by the hypothesis that the Brussels sprouts on the stalk of the plant represent the multiple worlds on the World Tree.

Norse Folklore and Odin's Sacrifice on the World Tree of Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil (from Old Norse Yggdrasill) is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.

In stanza 138 of the poem Hávamál, Odin describes how he once sacrificed himself to himself by hanging on a tree. The stanza reads:

I know that I hung on a windy tree

nine long nights,

wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,

myself to myself,

on that tree of which no man knows

from where its roots run

but to a sprout in Belgium

This appears to be the first allusion to the modern delicious treat we know and love today, called Brussels sprouts.

How to make them!

Ingredients:

• Brussels Sprouts

Instructions:

1. Put the Brussels sprouts in the oven at 425ºF for 25 minutes (or, for extra crispiness, try leaving them in for a few extra minutes!)

Enjoy!