Anyone for Cabbage?

In my opinion Cabbage should be renamed the Super food of the century! We should all include a serving of this fantastic vegetable at least once a week for it’s valuable cancer fighting properties and vital sulphur compounds that our diets often lack which is all hugely beneficial for our skin and joints.

Many of you may screw up your face in disgust at the thought of something that stirs memories of smelly school dinners or your grandmas over cooked Sunday roast!

However, the reason behind your pungent memory is because the cabbage you experienced was most likely soggy, over cooked and devoid of any nutritional value whatsoever. As with many vegetables, the secret to great taste and gaining the optimum nutritional value from it lies in eating it raw, or only lightly cooked.

At mange-tout this week there were many surprised parents who delighted at the fresh nutty flavour of raw cabbage or were amazed at their child’s sudden acquired taste for raw purple cabbage.

Local farmers markets as well as your regular supermarket will all stock a wide range of different cabbages: White, Savoy, Purple, Pointed and Miniature!

Let your child choose two different ones to take home to look at, explore and compare.

Have you overlooked cabbage in the supermarket because it wasn’t on your shopping list? Perhaps you’d spotted it and not been inspired as to how to cook or prepare it?

The wonderful thing about cabbage is that it needs little or no preparation and your child can get involved in the process too! I love making coleslaw with grated carrot, finely sliced cabbage, grated courgette and stirring in some mayonnaise and a sprinkle of poppy seeds.

Do you have any favourite cabbage recipes to share with us?