Brussels sprouts like cool temperatures all year, and the fog-bathed coast of San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties offers exactly that. Several thousand acres are planted along California’s coast, and the harvest season runs from June to January.
Commercial plantings began in Louisiana in 1925 and mostly moved to the California Central Coast by 1939. At Half Moon Bay, Brussels sprouts were already among the crops, with artichokes, mushrooms and dairy, that supported the town by the turn of the twentieth century.
The sprouts are a local favorite at the Art and Pumpkin Festival, sold by community nonprofits. Most U.S. production, around 32,000 tons a year worth about $27 million, is in California.
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