Ingredient: Cabbage
Category: Vegetables
Season: All:
The cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata Group) is a plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae).
It is a herbaceous, biennial, and dicotyledonous flowering plant with leaves forming a characteristic compact cluster.
Cabbages grown late in autumn and in the beginning of winter are called coleworts.
The cabbage is derived from a leafy wild mustard plant, native to the Mediterranean region.
Uses
The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the leafy head; more precisely, the spherical cluster of immature leaves, excluding the partially unfolded outer leaves. The so-called 'cabbage head' is widely consumed raw, cooked, or preserved in a great variety of dishes. Cabbage is a leaf vegetable.
Raw
Raw cabbage is usually sliced into thin strips or shredded for use in salads, such as coleslaw. It can also replace iceberg lettuce in sandwiches. Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C
Cooked
Cabbage is often added to soups or stews.
Cabbage soup is popular in central Europe and eastern Europe, and cabbage is an ingredient in some kinds of borscht.
Cabbage is also used in many popular dishes in India.
Boiling tenderises the leaves and releases sugars, which leads to the characteristic "cabbage" aroma.
Boiled cabbage as an accompaniment to meats and other dishes can be an opportune source of vitamins and dietary fiber.
Stuffed cabbage is an East European delicacy. The leaves are softened by parboiling or placing the whole head of cabbage in the freezer, and then filled with chopped meat and/or rice.
Fermented and preserved
Cabbage is the basis for the German sauerkraut and Korean kimchi.
To pickle cabbage it is placed in a jar, covered with water and salt, and left in a warm place for several days to ferment.
Sauerkraut was historically prepared at home in large batches, as a way of storing food for the winter.
Cabbage can also be pickled in vinegar with various spices, alone or in combination with other vegetables.
Korean baechu kimchi is usually sliced thicker than its European counterpart, and the addition of onions, chilies, minced garlic and gingers is common.
Varieties
There are many varieties of cabbage based on shape and time of maturity.
Traditional varieties include "Late Flat Dutch", "Early Jersey Wakefield" (a conical variety), "Danish Ballhead" (late, round -headed).
Savoy Cabbage has a round head with crinkled leaves.
Red cabbage is a small, round headed type with dark red leaves. Krautman is the most common variety for commercial production of sauerkrauts.
Buying cabbage:
Cabbage should always be eaten as fresh as possible, it loses nutrients if stored for too long.
An unwrapped fresh cabbage should look bright and crisp, with its outer leaves intact (often if it's had its outer leaves removed, it was because they were limp, which is not a good sign).
The heart should feel firm and the leaves should squeak as you pull them apart.
To prepare cabbage:
With a leafy variety such as spring greens, it's best to discard any tired, floppy outside leaves, then separate the other leaves down to the central bud and place them one by one on a flat board.
Use a sharp paring knife to cut out the stalks, by running the point of the knife down each side.
When the stalks have been removed, pile the leaves on top of each other and, using a larger knife, shred the cabbage into strips, then do the same with the centre bud to shred that too.
For a more compact variety, such as Savoy, once the outer leaves have been discarded, halve and then quarter the cabbage lengthways, then cut out the hard core from each quarter and discard.
Finally, slice thinly across each quarter to shred it.
To cook cabbage:
Boiled cabbage needs plenty of water.
Shred it quite finely and cook it briefly in rapidly boiling water.
Pack it down quite tightly into a saucepan, sprinkle with salt, then place the pan over a high heat, pour in boiling water from the kettle, which re-boils instantly, and time it for 3-5 minutes
The way to tell if it is cooked is to bite a piece, as you would pasta.
Tip it into a colander and squeeze out as much excess water as you can, using a saucer to press the cabbage down.
Turn the saucer on its side and use chopping movements to push any excess water out.
Serve it straightaway in a hot bowl, tossing it with a minute amount of butter, and season it with salt and pepper.
One medium-sized cabbage will serve 4 people
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