Bumper sprouts harvest spells misery for millions

It's the elephant in the room every Christmas Day. Who's going to tackle the two dozen Brussels sprouts poking out from behind the bowl of steaming stuffing?

It gets worse. Sprouts loathers are in shock today as farmers reveal a British bumper harvest of the green mouthfuls of hell which have ripened three weeks earlier than usual.

The result? Most weigh 25g instead of 20g and are particularly sweet and flavoursome, thanks to the unusually warm winter.

“It has been a really good year for sprouts and the yields are much higher than they have been for the past six years,” John Lankfer, who grows 70 acres of sprouts on his farm in Wisbech, Cambs said.

A spokeswoman for the Love Your Greens campaign group added: “The mild dry weather has been really good for the crop and helped produce very high quality sprouts.”

It's not tear-inducing news for all, though. Sprouts have never been more popular. Sales have risen sharply with more than £60 million sold, compared with £53 million last year.

Sprout recipes from the likes of Jamie Oliver and Gordon 'f*cking' Ramsay are blamed.

Image: Rex