Cabbage

HISTORY

The Celts of central and western Europe played a direct role in the distribution and popularization of cabbage as a food plant. Although the evidence points to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor as the place of origin of the species, Celtic knowledge of it was so ancient as to have influenced the Latin name, Brassica (from the Celtic word bresic, meaning "cabbage"). The rounded, hard-head cabbage was further developed by people in what is now the Netherlands.

USES

Cabbage is prepared and consumed in many ways. The simplest options include eating the vegetable raw or steaming it, though many cuisines pickle, stew, sautée or braise cabbage. Pickling is a common way of preserving cabbage, creating dishes such as sauerkraut and kimchi, although kimchi is more often made from Napa cabbage. Savoy cabbages are usually used in salads, while smooth-leaf types are utilized for both market sales and processing. Tofu and cabbage is a staple of Chinese cooking, while the British dish bubble and squeak is made primarily with leftover potato and boiled cabbage and eaten with cold meat.

In Poland, cabbage is one of the main food crops, and it features prominently in Polish cuisine. It is frequently eaten, either cooked or as sauerkraut, as a side dish or as an ingredient in such dishes as bigos (cabbage, sauerkraut, meat, and wild mushrooms, among other ingredients) gołąbki (stuffed cabbage) and pierogi (filled dumplings). Other eastern European countries, such as Hungary and Romania, also have traditional dishes that feature cabbage as a main ingredient. In India and Ethiopia, cabbage is often included in spicy salads and braises. In the United States, cabbage is used primarily for the production of coleslaw, followed by market use and sauerkraut production.

Here are 21 recipes for cabbage

PRESERVATION

Cabbage is traditionally pickled. Perhaps the most famous preservation method of any food is sauerkraut.

GROWING

SEASON
Cabbage is a cool season vegetable. It can be planted from transplants obtained from the nursery, or can be directly seeded and thinned to allow for the plant to develop. Usually people want a full head to develop, and to ensure you can allow that, make sure the plants have enough space. Some cabbages can take a number of months to develop, so make sure you plant whatever variety you are growing during a time where there is enough cool weather to allow for full head development.

SOIL & NUTRITION
Cabbage is grown in amended garden soil. An occasional feeding with a general purpose food is ideal.

TEMPERATURE & SUN EXPOSURE
Plant in full to part sun, make sure to avoid reflected heat or too much shade. Cabbage actually develops more flavor with winter cold snaps. Temperatures below 15 are said to damage plants, but those temperatures must be sustained for some period of time, which is not how our cold snaps work in our region. At the worst, plants may have some damaged outer leaves.

WATER
Moderate but steady water is preferred for cabbage.

HARVESTING
Most cabbage types are heading, so you wait until the plant has developed a large enough head—the plant will have some loose leaves outside the tighter heads which are on the inside of the plant.

WILDLIFE
As with most of our domestic crops, most mammals and even sometimes birds may nibble on plants. Warmer weather will encourage more activity from organisms people generally call “cutworms”. Cutworms aren’t worms at all, but Noctuid moth larvae. They hide in the soil and come out at night. Often people blame other organisms like grasshoppers for the holes they produce.

INVASIVENESS
Cabbage has shown no evidence of escaping cultivation in our region.

POPULAR SELECTIONS
There are almost too many varieties to mention here. Most cabbage selections perform well in our region so long as plants are well-fed and they are planted in a timely fashion.

*always be open to new varieties of vegetables and herbs for our region—new selections and ancient heirlooms that work for us in our region are constantly appearing on the market. Only beware of unknown varieties if one is buying from seed companies from other regions, or if a variety is being offered by a corporate chain or nursery that buys from giant wholesalers that ignore regional differences.