Love them or hate them, there is no denying the goodness locked in to those little Brussels sprouts. But when is the best time to harvest Brussels sprouts? How do you know if they are ready to harvest and is there an optimum time to pick them?
There are so many ways to cook your Brussels sprouts. When I was younger my mum would boil sprouts to within an inch of their lives, so that they would end up as a green mush on the plate. Not the most appetising of foods (sorry mum!). Nowadays I prefer to par boil and then roast with a good squeeze of honey over the top for sweetness. Try it, you wont regret it!
WHEN TO START BRUSSELS SPROUT SEEDS
Sprouts take about 80-90 days to grow to maturity. You start the seeds bout 4 months before your first frost date. Now, this isn’t easy anymore because the frost dates seem to be moving every year! In fact, it’s currently December 8th in the UK and we have only just had our first frost here in London!
So to be sure, start Brussels sprouts seeds in about June/July. I start mine in modules and then once they are about 3 inches tall and have their first true leaves (more than 4 in total growing on them!) you can plant them outside. This just makes sure they are protected against hungry slugs who are always particularly ravenous during the summer months.
HOW TO LOOK AFTER BRUSSELS SPROUT PLANTS
Sprouts have many enemies and need a lot of protecting, particularly in their early days growing. So you’ll need to keep them protected.
Use egg shells, beer traps or scouring pads to protect against slugs and netting to protect against birds and white cabbage butterflies. Butterflies like to lay their eggs underneath the leaves and then allow their little caterpillar offspring to munch their way through your entire plant. So check under leaves regularly for little clusters of eggs and swiftly wipe off if you see them.
I don’t feed my sprout plants, but I do stake them. This stops them from falling over onto the ground where sprouts can rot or slugs can better get at them!
WHEN TO HARVEST BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Harvest your sprouts as soon as they become about 1-2 inches in size and are round and firm, a bit like a cabbage. Sprouts on your plant can develop at different rates. You can either pick them as you go along, allowing smaller ones to catch up for a later harvest, or you can snip the top of the plant off and encourage them all to develop at the same rate.
The best time to harvest sprouts is after the first frost. Why? Because when frost touches the plants, it sweetens them up and makes them more flavourful. So if you can wait, do!
However, if your frost date is nowhere to be seen and you are desperate to pick them early, placing them into your freezer can also help to add flavour to your sprouts!
WHY DO SPROUTS TASTE BETTER AFTER THE FROST?
A lot of people don’t like cabbages, sprouts, parsnips and broccoli because they have eaten them while they have been bitter. When frost touches these plants, it forces the plant to produce an excess of sugar which sweetens up the vegetables.
The plants are literally creating their own anti freeze by breaking down the starch into sugar and stopping them from turning to ice! This is great for us, because it means the vegetables are sweeter and more flavourful when eaten.
