How do you separate the leaves of brussel sprouts

The outer leaves tend to come off pretty easily, but I find that I end up not being able to use a lot of the inner brussels sprouts this way. I prefer to shave them, either with a mandolin or just cutting in thin slices with a knife. You can make the slices pretty fine and get the same sort of effect compared to whole sprouts, without the same amount of waste. But of course this would depend on your recipe.

ATG117 is right. All you need to do is whack off the bottom. The leaves will fall off like so many little green flower petals. Easy peasy.

To separate a cabbage I freeze it first when it thaws the leaves come off easily. I would do the same with Brussel sprouts only core out the bottom.

Painstakingly...

cut off the bottoms and separate the leaves