This post is all about Brussels sprouts. In particular, it’s all about how much Honey B loves those little green things.
Humans began cultivating this unique cultivar of cabbage almost two millennia ago. They eventually became popular in northern Europe, including around the Belgian city of Brussels, given them their distinct name. They were brought by European settlers and immigrants to the Americas and retained their status as the most hate-it-or-love-it vegetable. Today, they’re grown in massive quantities in the low countries of Europe and in cool, coastal regions of the American West.
Usually, sprouts are the kind of food that the chimps only pick at once everything else has been served or foraged. Sometimes, certain individuals will show more of an appetite for them than usual. For example, Negra made sure to “harvest” them first during her group’s forage on Saturday. (You can see Diana’s post about it by going to: Queen of Brussels (Sprouts).
The chimps’ preferences for Brussels sprouts increase substantially when they’re still on the stalk, so Kelsi has been ordering them in that form for the past few weeks. Although it doesn’t contain quite as much fiber as one would expect, a Brussels stalk is like a green ice cream cone made of 86% water and only negligible amounts of fat. Each sprout also contains about 16mg of vitamin C, meaning that just a cup of these things contains all of this vitamin that you’ll need in a day. Take that, scurvy.
Today’s video shows Honey B munching on some of these tasty buds. Bone-apple-teeth!