spicy brussel sprouts?

[ben lipkowitz]

I cooked some brussel sprouts last night, ate some, and then put them in
the fridge. They tasted fine. Now, they taste like they're full of wasabi!
What happened?

protocol:
in a bowl, combine salt, black pepper, parmesean cheese, and olive oil.
stir.
cut brussel sprouts in half, apply paste to individual halves.
rotate halves with cheese side up.
broil for 20 minutes at 400F.
refrigerate for 20 hours.
feed to somebody who likes brussel sprouts.

[Forrest Flanagan]

Is this alchemy?

[Brian Degger]

Fermentation?

On 6/30/10, Forrest Flanagan <soleno...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is this alchemy?
>
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[leaking pen]

i have a similar recipe,only pan fry , and sprinkle on the cheese at the end.

id say the pepper leached spiceout into the oil.

[Jason Songhurst]

how fresh were the brussel sprouts? i.e. how far from the ground?

[Nathan McCorkle]

did you grind the pepper from whole peppercorns?

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[ben lipkowitz]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2010, Jason Songhurst wrote:
> how fresh were the brussel sprouts? i.e. how far from the ground?

not the oldest toughest sprouts, but not the baby ones either. i got them
from a grocery store.

> On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 1:10 AM, leaking pen <itsa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> id say the pepper leached spiceout into the oil.

I figured somebody would guess this, but it was definitely not a black
pepper flavor. You could get an identical effect by sprinkling wasabi
powder on the food.

> Fermentation?
I was worried about this, but they didn't really have time to go bad. And
I didn't get sick or anything, so I dont think it was fermentation.

> Alchemy?

I was just hoping somebody would pop up with some explanation like this

"The key chemicals that give wasabi its characteristic heat and flavor
arent present until the wasabi is macerated. When the cell wall is
disrupted, it releases the enzyme myrosinase, which hydrolyzes
glucosinolates, a group of sulfur-containing glucose derivatives, to
produce isothiocyanates that provide wasabis spicy zing. The most abundant
of these is allyl isothiocyanate."

I could see how cooking something might transform a precursor chemical
brussel sprouts are rich in, like sulforaphane or glucosinolate, into an
unstable form, which eventually decomposes to something like
isothiocyanate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allyl_isothiocyanate

"Brassica vegetables contain high concentrations of glucosinolates that
can be hydrolyzed by the plant enzyme, myrosinase, or intestinal
microflora to isothiocyanates."

"Sulforaphane concentration in broccoli sprout (1153 mg/100 g dry weight)
was about 10 times higher than that of mature broccoli (44-171 mg/100 g
dry weight)." http://www.mdidea.com/products/new/new092research.html
More research than I care to dig through at that link.

Anyway, should be a good science fair project for somebody.

[Eri G]

I'm curious what the rest of your fridge looked like. Was there
something else in there that could have spread a spicy taste to your
bowl of brussels sprouts? Maybe some degrading metal? What sort of
bowl did you store the sprouts in? Did you wrap them and, if so, in
what?

[ben lipkowitz]

er, i dont really see how only the brussel sprouts could have become
permeated with external spiciness, but not for example the sweet potatoes
i cooked the same night in the same oven and stored next to them in the
fridge.

brussel sprouts were stored in a ziploc brand tupperware container.

after reading some more, i'm pretty sure that it was some kind of
degradation product of glucosinolate. the idea is that an enzyme in the
plant is released upon being chewed by an animal, and rapidly breaks down
glucosinolate into an irritant volatile chemical which drives the animal
away. but cooking the sprouts could perhaps release the enzyme somehow and
not fully denature it, allowing a small percentage of the still active
enzyme remaining to slowly convert the glucosinolate overnight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucosinolate#Bitter.2C_toxic_-_or_healthy.3F

and, in case you all think i'm crazy, i'm not the only one:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/346149

"Never EVER EVER Microwave brussle sprouts. They don't cook right and end
up tasting like horseradish."
http://www.zam.com/forum.html?forum=28&mid=123194383172721458

I also learned that 99% of "wasabi" is actually horseradish with green
food coloring, because real wasabi is so volatile that it evaporates
within a few minutes of grinding.