Cabbage

Cabbage
Species
Brassica oleracea
Hybrid parentage
Cultivar group
Capitata Group
Cultivar
Origin
Mediterranean, 1st century
Cultivar Group members
Many; see text.

Coronary artery bypass surgery is sometimes pronounced 'Cabbage(s)'.

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, native to the Mediterranean region. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans; Cato the Elder praised this vegetable for its medicinal properties, declaring that "it is first of all the vegetables".. The English name derives from the Normanno-Picard caboche ("head"). Cabbage was developed by ongoing artificial selection for suppression of the internode length. The dense core of the cabbage is called the babchka.

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 into salads or chopped, as in coleslaw.

Cooked

Cabbage is often prepared by boiling, usually as part of soups or stews such as the Central Europe 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, 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 the German sauerkraut and Korean kimchi. 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.

Poultice

Cabbage is known to have been used in European folk medicine to treat acute inflammation. A paste of raw cabbage may be placed in a cabbage leaf and wrapped around the affected area to reduce discomfort. It may also be effective in the relief of painfully engorged breasts in breastfeeding women.

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

Cabbage garden in Shanghai, China.

Broadly speaking, cabbage varieties come in two groups, early and late. The early varieties mature in about 45 days. They produce small heads which do not keep well and are intended for consumption while fresh. The late cabbage matures in about 87 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 a driver of success. 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).

See also

• Chinese cabbage resembles cabbage, but is derived from a different species Brassica campestris
• Kerguelen cabbage is the distantly related Pringlea antiscorbutica
• Cabbage soup diet
• Discordianism

External links

• Cabbage for the home gardener
• Preparation of cabbage for market hosted by the UNT Government Documents Department