About Brussels Sprouts...and Two Upcoming Workshops

Joel Rosen sent us this letter about Brussels sprouts. He also told us about some upcoming workshops. Below Joel’s letter is a good Brussels sprouts recipe!—Maggie


“Fall garden harvest is nearing the end. Everything is done here except Brussels sprouts, which have reached peak sweetness in the past 10 days. The trick this late in the year is finding a time to pick them. If you pick them when they're still frozen, you need to peel a couple of outer leaves and eat them shortly after they thaw out (cooked or raw). If you can find a window of opportunity where they thaw in the afternoon sun on the stalk, they can still be kept for several days in a cool place before eating without loss of quality. Once we've experienced temperatures of -5F or colder, the texture goes pretty rapidly with the variety I grow. I consider it a bonus when we can still eat Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving (likely this year).

Some people like to dig up the plants roots attached and store in the root cellar. They do keep reasonably well this way, but if you wait as long as I do, you'll never get them out of the ground unless you mulch heavily (at least 6" of straw) or get an early heavy snow cover…

A heads up for anyone you know interested in organic and/or sustainable farming: two very well know personalities will be keynoting events in Minnesota this winter. Eliot Coleman, innovative market gardener from Maine and author of several indispensable books for organic growers, is keynoting the Minnesota Organic Conference on Friday, Jan 16 in St. Cloud. He will also be conducting a breakout workshop on High Tunnels (For those interested in organic row crop farming, Fred Kirschenmann, probably the nation's best known organic grain farmer will delivering the Saturday keynote in St. Cloud)

On Saturday Feb 21, Joel Salatin, for many years a renowned innovative grass/livestock farmer and even better known since Michael Pollan's book, will be keynoting the Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association's Annual Conference in Northfield at St. Olaf College. Salatin will also be conducting a breakout workshop.

These individuals will no doubt attract a lot of attention, so anyone interested should register for the session/day of their choice soon. I can provide more information/links for interested parties.

--Joel Rosen”

A Good Brussels Sprouts Recipe

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and uniformly sliced
2-3 T butter
2 T sliced almonds
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large deep skillet over low heat.
Add the almonds to the butter in the skillet and cook slowly in the butter until the almonds are toasted. Increase heat to medium. Add the Brussels sprouts and garlic and quickly toss to coat with the hot butter. Sprinkle the red wine vinegar over the sprouts and toss again to coat. Cook, stirring frequently, until sprouts are wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Killing Frosts: A Letter From Joel Rosen

The effects of frost are often misunderstood by gardeners. Generally, climatologists and agronomists classify frost as light, moderate, or hard. Light frost (29-32) will usually kill or damage warm weather annual foliage and stems (basil, cucumbers, and melons are especially sensitive). Moderate frost (25-28) will damage or destroy the fruits of the warm weather annuals like squash, tomatoes, etc (especially if their protective foliage has already been destroyed in a previous frost). Hard or severe frost (24 or below) may cause damage to some of the less hardy coles like cauliflower and may induce at least temporary dormancy in grass and clover.

Of course most root crops, cole crops, and hardy greens will survive and in many cases improve in quality following temperatures in the 18-24F range. Further complicating the issue is the level of available potassium in the soil, which will increase even tender plants' frost resistance. I have on numerous occasions seen squash, pumpkin, tomato, and pepper foliage frozen as stiff as cardboard, only to thaw out in the sun with little significant damage. The amount of dew frozen around the foliage (acting as insulation) also provides some protection, while wind in sub-freezing temperatures will increase the level of damage. The heat stored in the soil also can make quite a difference to growth within 6" of the ground, so a late August frost when soil is still warm will often show less damage than a late September frost with the same temperature. Duration of frost is also a significant factor. Finally, the placement of a gardener's thermometer may cause confusion. A thermometer attached to a house wall or inside a porch will nearly always register significantly warmer temperatures in calm conditions. An accurate reading of 37F from a porch thermometer may be less than 100 yards away from a garden where everything is frozen stiff. The nearby unprotected garden in a low area could easily be 10 degrees colder than that porch reading on a still morning, enough frost to damage quite a variety of garden crops.

One final caveat. While warm weather fruits and vegetables may survive light frosts, gardeners need to decide if they are worth covering and saving. Basil begins to blacken and deteriorate after the first night or two of temperatures in the 30's and the quality of vine-ripened tomatoes deteriorates markedly once nights begin to dip into the 30's, epecially when the days remain cool. Due to its higher sugar content, a ripe tomato will "survive" more frost intact than a green one, but it may not taste a whole lot better than those green tomatoes many gardeners wrap in newspaper and ripen in warm places in the fall. Once the weather turns cold, I like to focus on enjoying the things that are starting to taste really good, like carrots, broccoli, cabbage, fall apples, etc.

Joel Rosen is a gardener and frequently contributes his weather information to John Latimer's Phenology Show. Joel lives on Park Lake near Matowah in Carlton County. The growing season and phenology in Joel's neck of the woods can be different from other parts of the KAXE listening area due to the influence on weather from Lake Superior