Sprouts, sprouts, good for the heart, the more you eat them the more you...

Love them or hate them sprouts are one of the traditional vegetables at the Christmas feast, and badly cooked ones are the stuff of bad childhood memories for some.

I posed the question on Facebook and twitter "Are sprouts going to be part of your Christmas meal or not?"

Considering the bad press the humble sprout endures the results were quite suprising!

Two thirds of you will be eating them, good news, although two people confessed to only planning on a single token sprout. Still, one is better than none.

One person suggested, cooking them, covering them in chocolate, letting them set and then wrapping them in a Ferrero Rocher wrapper to play tricks on people, a little harsh perhaps?

I also asked people how they cook them. Plain and simple or with other bits and pieces. The answers, unsurprisingly, involved bacon and chestnuts as well as butter, onions and Brie.

I think it's likely that mine will be naked except for a knob of butter, salt and freshly ground black pepper, although the brie does sound tempting, and I'm toying with a sprinkling of parmesan...

How will you be eating yours?

How do you cook sprouts? The most important answer is not too much. Over cooked sprouts really aren't great, although not as bad as bullet hard raw ones!

When you buy yours, try and pick similarly sized ones so that even cooking is easier. They then need trimming a little off the end and discard any tatty outer leaves. Don't bother with crossing the bottom of them. They can then be boiled or steamed for between 5-10 mins, keep checking whether they are cooked or not with a sharp knife. Drain and serve.

Ruth