Brussels Sprouts (Brassica oleracea gemmifera) are one of the more recent additions to the panoply of Barssica varieties that grace the modern table. It is first pictured by the French botanist, Jacques Daleschamps in Historia generalis plantarum (1586), the most complete botanical compilation of its time. He pictures a globular cluster of sprouts gathered into a roundish multi head; unlike any brussels sprouts you will see at market today, however, if the top is removed and the side leaves cut off, you will produce a plant that looks much like the illustration, suggesting that its culture was well established by the time the Historia was written. In his History of Garden Plants (1887), Sturtevant observes, “Authors have stated that the Brussels Sprouts has been grown from time immemorial about Brussels, in Belgium, but, if this be so, it is strange that they escaped the notice of the early botanists, who would have certainly noticed a common plant of such striking appearance and have given a figure.” Indeed there are authors who list it as early as the 13th century but I am inclined to think that the earliest citations for “sprouts'' refers to the cabbage sprouts which are formed after the main head is cut (as described in my earlier post on “cabbage sprouts”). Sturtevant goes on to speculate that, as brussels sprouts seems to be a fairly stable variety by Deschamps time that it “would seem to indicate a probability that the origin is to be sought for in a sport, and that our present forms have been derived from the propagation of and selections from the seedlings derived from a suddenly observed variable of the Savoy cabbage type.” While seemingly well known in Belgium and France, the first botanical description in England does not appear until Charles Marshall's Plain and Easy Introduction to Gardening in 1796. However, it was clearly known before this time as it is included in Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families, (1845) where she gives directions for cooking and serving them in 'the Belgian mode', boiled and with melted butter poured over them.
In this country they are first described in Bernard McMahon’s The American Gardener’s Calendar (1806): “The Brussels; sprouts; is an open headed cabbage, grows very high, and is remarkable for producing a great quantity of excellent sprouts; in spring.” It is likely that Jefferson obtained his seed from McMahon as they were well acquainted. Jefferson first recorded planting “Sprouts, Brussels” in 1812. He also lists them in his garden plans for 1815, ‘16, ‘17 and 1820 although his planting chart does not include harvest times for these plants, which are listed for most other vegetables. It could well be that the culture of Brussels sprouts eluded Jefferson, as it has so many gardeners over the years. The successful culture of Brussels sprouts in this country is generally attributed to the French, who were growing Brussels sprouts in Louisiana by 1800 and likely much earlier as it is believed that they were first introduced with the French Acadians who were expelled from the Low Country of Eastern Canada in the years between 1755 and 1763.
Brussels sprouts remained an obscure vegetable in this country until fairly recent times. Sometimes called the “thousand-headed cabbage,” Sturtevant records in 1887, that “in this country only grown in the gardens of amateurs, yet deserving of more esteem, has for a type-form a cabbage with an elongated stalk, and bearing groups of leaf-buds in the axils of the leaves.” As late as 1894 market gardener Peter Henderson observed, “This vegetable has never come into general use in this country, probably owing to its being too tender to stand the winters of the Northern States.”
Brussels sprouts have long suffered under the reputation as vegetable Americans love to hate. This is largely due to the Brussels sprouts gene TAS2R38 which some people carry and some do not. If you are unfortunate enough to carry this gene you will taste the bitter properties of Brussels sprouts while those without will not. In the 1990’s a Dutch scientist named Hans van Doorn, figured out exactly which chemical compounds in Brussels sprouts give them this bitterness and they have been working to breed the bitterness out of Brussel sprouts ever since. Many American cooks have discovered that over-boiling Brussels sprouts increases the bitter properties and many prefer to roast them, which greatly reduces their bitterness.
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