What you need
Shredded Brussels sprouts
Advertisement
Onion or shallots
Lemon juice
Parmesan cheese
IN MY family, Brussels sprouts are a much-loved element of Christmas dinner, but for many, they are an annual torture. If you hate them, there are a few science-based tips that may win you over.
The Brassica genus, to which sprouts belong, evolved to produce bitter compounds as a defence against herbivores. Just like onions and garlic, they store precursor molecules in their cells. When the plant is damaged, the precursors are released and they interact with myrosinase enzymes in the cells to produce unpleasant-tasting chemicals.
Some cooks recommend plunging chopped sprouts into icy water to lower the activity of these enzymes, but in sprouts, some of the precursor molecules are non-bitter compounds that convert to bitter-tasting products, while others are the opposite. So whatever you do, some of the compounds will always be bitter.
People can be more sensitive to bitter tastes than others, and genetic variations in the TAS2R38 receptor may play a role. But a found the variations aren’t linked to the amount of vegetables eaten, so non-genetic factors may play a bigger role.
We can learn to appreciate foods we don’t like by pairing them with ones we do. In , a group of young children was given Brussels sprouts with cream cheese every day for two weeks, while another group was given Brussels sprouts alone. On the 15th day, both groups were given sprouts without cheese. Less than a quarter of children in the second group said they liked them, compared with 72 per cent of children who had been trained with cream cheese.
A , meanwhile, found that the bitter taste of sprouts could be suppressed by drinking red wine at the same time. The researchers thought this was down to the wine’s astringency, the dry sensation in the mouth caused by phenolic compounds called tannins, which make proteins in saliva clump together. Interfering with their movement may affect the distribution of bitter chemicals in the mouth. In any case, I need no encouragement to have red wine with my Christmas dinner.
For me, the best ways to cook sprouts are frying and roasting. High heat creates the Maillard reaction, where sugars and amino acids react to produce delicious tastes. When browned, cruciferous vegetables develop wonderfully nutty and savoury flavours that you don’t get from boiling.
I like to add caramelised onions or shallots to pan-fried, shredded sprouts, plus a squeeze of lemon juice before serving. This combination livens up the flavour and helps mask bitterness. An umami boost from parmesan cheese goes down a treat too.
As for the odorous after-effects of eating sprouts, that is down to a nasty reaction by our gut bacteria. Unfortunately, there is little that cooking can do about that.
Science of cooking appears every four weeks
In the next magazine Science of gardening
Science magic transforms the festive meal at
