Cabbage

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The cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata Group) is a plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae). It is herbaceous, biennial, and a dicotyledonous flowering plant with leaves forming a characteristic compact cluster.

The cabbage is derived from a leafy wild mustard plant, found in the Mediterranean region around 100 AD. The English name derives from the Normanno-Picard caboche ("head"). Cabbage was developed by ongoing artificial selection for suppression of the internode length.

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, and is thus a leaf vegetable.

Raw

While raw cabbage can be eaten in hand, for most uses it is sliced into thin strips or shredded in to salads or chopped, as in coleslaw.

Cooked

Cabbage is often prepared by boiling, usually as part of soups or stews such as the Central and Eastern European borscht. Boiling tenderizes the leaves, and releases sugars, and develops a characteristic "cabbage" aroma. Indeed, boiled cabbage seems to have fallen out of favor in North America, possibly due to the strong smell released during the cooking, to its image as a food of the poor, or to its reputation for promoting flatulence. Boiled cabbage as an accompaniment to meats and other dishes can be an opportune source of umami, sugars and dietary fiber.

Fermented and preserved

Cabbage is often consumed as sauerkraut. Finely sliced cabbage is mixed with salt and undergoes lactic acid fermentation. Sauerkraut was historically prepared at home, as a way of storing food for the winter; but like other canned and pickled foods is nowadays mainly an industrialized product.

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.

Cultivation

Broadly speaking, cabbage varieties come in two groups, early and late. The early varieties mature in about 50 days. They produce small heads which do not keep well and are intended for consumption while fresh. The late cabbage matures in about 80 days, and produces a larger head.

Cabbage can be started indoors or sowed directly. Like all brassicae, cabbage is a cool season crop, so early and late plantings do better than those maturing in the heat of the summer.

Control of insect pests is important, particularly in commercial production where appearance is important. The pesticides sevin and malathion are both listed for use on cabbage. The caterpillars of some butterflies in the family Pieridae (the "whites") feed on brassicas and can be serious pests.

Cabbages keep well and were thus a common winter vegetable before refrigeration and long-distance shipping of produce.

Related Brassica oleracea varieties

Besides cabbage proper, the species Brassica oleracea has many distinctive cultivars, which are commonly known by other names: broccoli (Italica Group), cauliflower (Botrytis Group), kale, collard greens, and spring greens (Acephala Group), kohlrabi (Gongylodes Group), brussels sprouts (Gemmifera Group), Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli (Alboglabra Group), broccolini (Italica × Alboglabra Group), and broccoflower (Italica × Botrytis Group).

External links

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