Lessons from a sprout

Oh, yes - it's that time of year again, when the Marmite amongst vegetables is once again readily available in the shops; SPROUTS ! you either love them or you hate them, I am residing in the camp with people who love the little green mini cabbage. Not only do sprouts raise the question on like or no like ... from as far as I can remember, it also caused another debate ... to cross it or not.

Many people take of the little outer leaves and will boil / steam or even roast them that way. I was brought up in a home where these little green things had also had to be crossed, as in, a little cross had to be made in the stem. No idea why, that's just what I observed as I grew up and as my mum did it, I just followed. Some say it assists in the more even cooking (rather than ending up with overcooked outer leaves and a crunchy inner bit). Whatever the reason, and apparently even the might Delia has been known to change her mind on this issue, it works for me, so I stick with it - how about you?

Of course the reason to blog about this is not so much about 'what's the best way of cooking a sprout' - for me it is more about the cross at the bottom, allow me to explain:

One Christmas (many years ago now) I observed my mother trimming hundreds of sprouts and all of them got the little insertions in their bottoms in the shape of a cross. Not thinking too much more about it, I went to play with my toys. At the dinner table that evening though, I had to ask about this 'cross ritual'. Mum answered very directly: 'cause my mum used to do it''. That's a good answer as far as answers regarding sprouts go. But still it weighed on my mind ... what if the cross caused all the goodness to flow out from the sprout ... surely that's not a good thing to happen. I never pursued this any further, until I had my own family, and had to prepare my own sprouts, cutting into their little bottoms, as I am continuing that family tradition, I suddenly felt my mind going back to that question, 'what if it allows all the goodness to come out'. Well, even Google is not satisfactory in answering that one for me. 

Since that first time, many years have passed and I am nowhere nearer to answering that question, but I have come to a very strange, yet satisfying analogy ... that goodness flows out because of the cross, and those who know about my beliefs will now sit up and hopefully have the same awakening as I had, if not, don't worry, just enjoy your sprouts this Christmas - have a good one.