Thursday, November 25, 2010

Harvesting Brussels Sprouts in the Snow

Winter came early this year in Minnesota. I purposely hadn't harvested my Brussels sprouts yet because they always taste better after a frost and I really wanted to serve them on Thanksgiving.

Little did I know that by Thanksgiving, they would be covered with snow! I had read that you could still harvest them as long as you cooked them right away (still frozen). I had even heard that they taste better once nature has frozen them. I wasn't about to waste anything as tasty as Brussels Sprouts so it was time to find out.

I had to dig down quite a bit to get to them. The mound where they were wasn't that high so I thought I would just brush the snow away and there they would be, but no, it just couldn't be that simple. They had actually fallen down and were laying flat on the ground and the snow was more like ice and I had to chip away to get to them, but once I got a look at those beauties I knew I had to keep working to free them!

And free them I did. Here they are laying frozen on my kitchen counter.


And here they are all steamed up and ready to eat. They were very tasty indeed. I can't say they were any tastier than before a frost, I really didn't notice a taste difference at all.
So, if your Brussels spouts get caught out in the garden under snow, do not hesitate to harvest and enjoy them.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!