Crop of the Week: Cabbage
April 21, 2012 7:07 PM
• The last of the green cabbage for this growing season is
now being harvested. In 2010, Yuma County farmers grew more than 700
acres of cabbage valued at over $2.2 million.
• Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a plant of the family Brassicaceae. 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 the cabbage that surpasses all other vegetables.”
• There are three major types of cabbage: green, red and Savoy. The color of green cabbage ranges from pale to dark green while red cabbage has leaves that are either crimson or purple with white veins running through. Both green and red cabbage have smooth textured leaves. The leaves of Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and yellowish-green in color. Red and green cabbage varieties have a more defined taste and crunchy texture compared to Savoy cabbage's more delicate nature.
• The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the leafy head and the spherical cluster of immature leaves. The so-called cabbage head is widely consumed — raw, cooked or preserved — in a great variety of dishes such as cooked in soups and stews or raw in cole slaw.
• Sturdy, abundant and inexpensive, cabbage is a long-standing dietary staple throughout the world, widely cultivated and stores well so it was a common winter vegetable before refrigeration and long-distance shipping of produce.
• Sauerkraut, a dish made from fermented cabbage, has a colorful legacy. Dutch sailors consumed it during extended exploration voyages to prevent scurvy because of cabbage's high vitamin C content.
• Cabbage contains quercetin, an antioxidant that is a natural antihistamine that can benefit allergy sufferers. A chemical (isothiocyanates) found in cabbages may lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers by as much as 38 percent.
• Choose cabbage heads that are firm and dense with shiny, crisp, colorful leaves free of cracks, bruises and blemishes. Keeping it cold will keep it fresh and help retain its vitamin C content. Put the whole head in a plastic bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. Red and green cabbage will keep this way for about two weeks while Savoy cabbage will keep fresh for about one week.
• The world's largest cabbage is credited to William Collingwood of County Durham, England, whose prized cabbage in 1865 weighed in at 123 pounds.
• World Cabbage Day is on Feb. 17.
Source: Kurt Nolte is an agriculture agent and Yuma County Cooperative Extension director. He can be reached at knolte@cals.arizona.edu or 726-3904.
• Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a plant of the family Brassicaceae. 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 the cabbage that surpasses all other vegetables.”
• There are three major types of cabbage: green, red and Savoy. The color of green cabbage ranges from pale to dark green while red cabbage has leaves that are either crimson or purple with white veins running through. Both green and red cabbage have smooth textured leaves. The leaves of Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and yellowish-green in color. Red and green cabbage varieties have a more defined taste and crunchy texture compared to Savoy cabbage's more delicate nature.
• The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the leafy head and the spherical cluster of immature leaves. The so-called cabbage head is widely consumed — raw, cooked or preserved — in a great variety of dishes such as cooked in soups and stews or raw in cole slaw.
• Sturdy, abundant and inexpensive, cabbage is a long-standing dietary staple throughout the world, widely cultivated and stores well so it was a common winter vegetable before refrigeration and long-distance shipping of produce.
• Sauerkraut, a dish made from fermented cabbage, has a colorful legacy. Dutch sailors consumed it during extended exploration voyages to prevent scurvy because of cabbage's high vitamin C content.
• Cabbage contains quercetin, an antioxidant that is a natural antihistamine that can benefit allergy sufferers. A chemical (isothiocyanates) found in cabbages may lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers by as much as 38 percent.
• Choose cabbage heads that are firm and dense with shiny, crisp, colorful leaves free of cracks, bruises and blemishes. Keeping it cold will keep it fresh and help retain its vitamin C content. Put the whole head in a plastic bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. Red and green cabbage will keep this way for about two weeks while Savoy cabbage will keep fresh for about one week.
• The world's largest cabbage is credited to William Collingwood of County Durham, England, whose prized cabbage in 1865 weighed in at 123 pounds.
• World Cabbage Day is on Feb. 17.
Source: Kurt Nolte is an agriculture agent and Yuma County Cooperative Extension director. He can be reached at knolte@cals.arizona.edu or 726-3904.
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