Vegetable
Cabbage
Also called green cabbage, white cabbage, savoy
A dense brassica head — green, white or savoy — that eats raw as slaw, steams sweet in a pot, or shreds into a pancake. It is not napa cabbage and not collard greens: the leaves are tighter, waxier, and they hold in a long simmer without dissolving if you cut them in wedges.
Origin
Domesticated in Europe from wild coastal brassicas and now grown almost everywhere cheap calories are useful. Irish colcannon, French pot-au-feu, Japanese okonomiyaki and Mexican pozole garnish all lean on the same head in different cuts.
Flavour
Peppery and sulphurous when raw, especially the core. Long, wet heat turns it sweet and mild. Burnt cabbage is acrid; the line between caramelised and scorched is short.
How to use it
Quarter and core. Shred fine for okonomiyaki, gyoza or slaw so it cooks or pickles evenly; salt and squeeze if you need it drier in a pancake. Chunks or wedges belong in pot-au-feu and ribollita, added late enough that they soften but still hold. Colcannon wants the cabbage cooked with the potato, not raw flecks. A splash of acid — vinegar, lemon — after a fry keeps the flavour bright. Do not drown shredded cabbage in a covered pan unless you want school-canteen smell.
Storage
Whole heads last weeks in the fridge crisper. A cut face dries and smells; wrap it and use within a week. Outer leaves can be scruffy and still fine once the dirt is gone.
Recipes using it
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