In the south, fall and winter cabbages like green, red and purple head cabbages have a short harvest period. As we have discussed before, cruciferous vegetables like cabbages are a wealth of nutrients and phytonutrients.
Cabbages may help lower cancer risk, improve skin health, enhance digestive function, maintain healthy vision, boost the immune system, help prevent heart disease and diabetes, improve bone health and slow down Alzheimer’s onset.
Researchers have identified nearly 20 different flavonoids and 15 different phenols in cabbages, all of which have demonstrated antioxidant activity. These antioxidant phytonutrients in cabbages are reasons that research links cabbage intake to the prevention of many aging diseases.
Brined cabbages provide probiotics for a healthy gut microbiome.
Peak Time: November to January
Average Price: $.89 per pound
Tips for Selection and Storage: Choose head cabbages that are firm and heavy for their size. Avoid wilted cabbages or cabbages that have rust or have been excessively trimmed. Winter head cabbage can be refrigerated loosely wrapped and stored for a week or so.
Tips for Preparation: In cooking cabbage, allow one pound raw cabbage for two cups cooked. Cabbage can be halved and quartered or shredded. To cut, first remove any damaged, browned or wilted outer leaves and rinse the head under cold water. Place the head on a cutting board or clean work surface with the stem side down. Locate the stem, or core, of the cabbage. With a chef’s knife, cut in half lengthwise all the way through the core. If you’re making shredded cabbage, you need to remove the triangular core. If you are roasting or braising cabbage wedges, leave the stem intact to hold the leaves together.
Use raw as other cabbages in salads and slaw, but stir frying, sautéing, braising, roasting, stuffing and soup making are all excellent methods of preparation.
Head cabbages also make healthy homemade sauerkraut or kimchi by brining.
Nutritional Highlights: Green cabbage is very low in calories – about 15 per half cup cooked and 15 to 19 per cup raw. Green, red and purple cabbages are excellent sources of vitamin C. If eaten raw, more vitamin C will be available. All cabbages are excellent sources of vitamin K, vitamin B6, folate and a good source of other B vitamins and vitamin A from several carotenoids. Other phytonutrients include flavonoids and sulforaphane. All these phytonutrients, plus vitamin C, make cabbages one of the foods with the highest levels of antioxidants per unit cost.
Cabbage is also good source of potassium, calcium and manganese. All cabbage is rich in dietary fiber, especially insoluble fiber that reduces the risk of colon cancer and soluble fiber that is a prebiotic, feeding the probiotic good bacteria in the gut microbiome. Brined cabbage is a probiotic in itself.
