Harvest of the Month: Cabbage
Green vegetables are typically served with the promise that they’re good for you. Cabbage thoroughly delivers on that promise.
An antioxidant that’s high in Vitamins K and C and packed with fiber, cabbage has been lauded as a cancer fighter, skin refresher, inflammation reducer, digestive aid and heart-health powerhouse. Some people even say it can reduce headaches when put in a warm compress and applied to the forehead, and others consider it to be a great cure for a hangover (which might have something to do with its popularity as a New Year’s Day dish).
With all of this going for it, it’s no wonder that cabbage has stood the test of time, and is considered by some to be one of the oldest cultivated food sources on the planet. This might have something to do with the fact that it’s incredibly hardy, has always been relatively inexpensive and is widely grown. Some believe it was one of the reasons why Europeans survived the Great Potato Famine in the mid-1800s: When a blight wiped out potato crops, many hungry families subsisted on cabbage.
Remember: Cabbage is a cold-weather crop, so you’ll find the freshest specimens in the market between November and April. When choosing cabbage heads, looks for ones that are not firm but do feel heavy for their size and that have healthy-looking leaves. You can store whole heads of cabbage in a plastic bag in the crisper of your refrigerator for about a month.
Download February’s Recipe: Healing Cabbage Soup
Tags: food, harvest of the month, health, recipe