Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without them...

Sprouts...
What are your views on them ?

It may depend on your childhood experiences of them, and the way that they were prepared.

Sprout growers are facing some problems at the moment. There is a small window just before Christmas when the sprouts have to be harvested, so that they can be processed.
For many producers, the temperature has been so low that the sprouts are frozen, and are likely to remain so until next week.
Frozen sprouts are damaged by machinery if it is used to harvest them, and they also rot quickly if they are not properly thawed out, and the flavour and smell are impaired if they are frozen to the core. They are currently having to be cut in stalks, and then thawed out, which adds extra costs, which may well be passed on to the consumer.

I see a lot of sprouts as I drive through Lincolnshire: the East coast is one area where they are grown, and this has been hard hit by the snow and freezing temperatures. This newspaper article talks to the major grower in East Yorkshire, who supplies Morrisons with a third of their sprouts, and has been unable to harvest his sprouts.

I've started a TWTPOLL - please feel free to go HERE and fill in your views on whether you like sprouts...
At the time of posting, the current state of play is shown below:


Sprouts are part of our culture, and part of our farming landscape.
A sprout is not just for Christmas....

Image by Alan Parkinson

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