12 Tips You Need When Cooking With Cabbage

Whether you're looking for a light and healthy side dish, a hearty entrée, or a flavorful condiment, cabbage can handle it all. It is an incredibly versatile and nutrient-rich vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family. Its wild ancestor is native to the Mediterranean region, but its domestication happened somewhere in Europe, where red and purple varieties were cultivated around the 16th century (via Harvesting History). Due to its resistance to cold weather, cabbage has become an essential vegetable in colder countries and has taken a prominent place in cuisines around the world.

With all that said, cabbage can also be challenging to cook with. It's not always given the respect it deserves because, in the hands of an unacquainted cook, it can turn into an unappetizing, limp, discolored, and –worst of all — terribly smelly mess. Fortunately, you can easily transform your cabbage frustrations into delicious meals with a few tricks. From selecting the right type of cabbage for your needs to prepping and storage recommendations, these tips will help you master the art of cooking with cabbage in no time.

Unsurprisingly, the reason we count cabbage in heads is due to the veggie's uncanny resemblance to a human head, which is reflected in its etymology. The word cabbage actually comes from the old French "caboce." In turn, that word combines "caput," which is Latin for "head," and "boce," which means swelling (via "Cupboard Love 2: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities"). So what should you look for in a perfect "swollen head" of cabbage?

When shopping for cabbage, take only the heads that are firm and well-compacted, with no browning or markings that could indicate worm damage. The leaves should be fresh and crisp, and the color of the leaves should match the variety you're buying. Typically, the darker green the leaves are, the more flavor they will have. The stem should be trimmed and look fresh, not dry and cracked. To ensure quality, red and green cabbage should have a solid, tight head and be weighty in comparison to their size.

Savoy cabbage is usually less dense, while napa cabbage typically takes the shape of an oblong head and is more lightweight. Slight wilting or discoloration of any of these cabbages is permissible as long as it's kept to the outer leaves. Try to avoid precut or shredded cabbage, as it loses its vitamin C content quickly, even when wrapped tightly.

Prepping cabbage for cooking begins with cleaning it. Although the process is not complicated, it is still essential. While the outer layers act like a shield, which can be discarded to reveal a perfectly clean head inside, it is best to rinse your cabbage thoroughly anyway. For one, even a firm head of cabbage may have bugs inside the folds.

Multiple techniques can make cleaning easy and fast if you want to ensure that your cabbage is safe to eat. Start by removing the outer leaves, which are often damaged or visibly smudged with dirt. Next, soak the cut-up parts in cool water. Finally, to ensure you get rid of all bacteria and critters, add about half a cup of vinegar per cup of water in your produce bath.

Another hands-off prepping technique you might want to remember is using the freezer to separate cabbage leaves. You can freeze an entire rinsed head overnight instead of boiling it — this method will likewise break down the cellular structure, but without the sulfur stink or using extra energy.

After prepping cabbage, you're inevitably left with tough outer leaves and cores. You likely throw them away or send them down to compost, but that won't be necessary once you learn how to reuse those cabbage scraps.

First of all, the darker outer leaves are generally more nutritious. Considering they receive more light, they produce more pigments and antioxidants to process the energy input, which results in a darker hue. Thus, the inner leaves of cabbages that form tight heads contain less carotene than the outer leaves, according to "On Food and Cooking." Fortunately, there are several ways you can use up outer cabbage leaves and keep those extra bits of nutrition. For instance, they shine in recipes that rely on their sturdiness (like cabbage rolls). You can also cook them down into soups and stews or use salt and acid to make them more tender while retaining crunchiness for sauerkraut and coleslaw.

We guarantee you will lose the desire to throw cabbage cores away once you've learned how to eat them. Finely shredded, they can make a crunchy addition to a salad or a zero-waste slaw; added to a pot with other veggies, they will seamlessly become a part of a puréed soup. Pickling or deep-frying them will turn what could end up in a landfill into a delicious snack, side, or topping.

Let's talk about the main reason cabbage is overlooked and even thoroughly disliked: its notoriously lousy smell. Cutting and crushing cabbage leaves releases sulfur-containing precursors, and cooking (especially beyond the advised time limit) only increases this intense and persistent aroma. The sulfur smell is most commonly likened to rotten eggs, sewage, and urine, and that's not something you want to linger in your kitchen. Fortunately, there are simple ways to avoid it altogether.

Common methods used in Europe and North America to address the smell of cabbage include boiling it with caraway, bay leaf, unshelled walnuts, celery, vinegar, lemon juice, bread, or a biscuit; submerging the cabbage in a lot of water and boiling it on high heat; and leaving a bowl of white vinegar near the stove. However, none of these tactics are as effective as cooking cabbage in a well-ventilated room for no longer than 20 minutes or not cooking it at all. Alternatively, slicing the cabbage thinly and frying it in hot oil can be helpful since the oil coating the surface will prevent the smelly compounds from escaping.

The Brassica genus is broad, and all specimens have some nutritional benefits to offer. Green and red cabbage are always set against each other to determine which one is more nutritious. Napa cabbage and bok choy often share a similar fate. A closer look at these healthy plants might help you decide how to get the most out of them.

According to Healthline, one cup of green cabbage contains only 22 calories, a generous portion of vitamin C, and an impressive 85% of your daily vitamin K. Red cabbage, however, is even more nutrient-rich, providing a hefty helping of antioxidants and vitamins A, C, K, and B6, all for just 27 calories per cup (per USDA). But the undisputed nutritional heavyweight in the cabbage family is kale — one cup of its chopped raw leaves packs a whopping 684%, 206%, and 134% of the recommended daily intake of vitamins K, A, and C, respectively (via NutritionData).

To maximize the nutritional intake of these vegetables, consuming them raw is recommended, as cooking will inevitably lead to loss of nutrients, notably vitamin C. But cooking it briefly is an option if you're not a fan of the pungent and somewhat bitter taste of cabbage. Considering all cabbage varieties are so rich in nutrients, you'll still get enough even after heat treatment.

While cabbage is historically prized for its ability to last for a long time, that only rings true for whole heads stored in proper conditions. If you're having a hard time using a head that's been cut into before it starts to go limp, we suggest you look into the ancient arts of pickling and fermentation. The two most famous ways to preserve cabbage this way are sauerkraut and kimchi, each distinct in its flavor and manner of preparation.

Traditional sauerkraut is made by fermenting cabbage with salt and its own juices. Healthline states that this process offers a few health advantages, such as the production of probiotics, which can improve digestion by making food easier to digest. Plus, its gut-friendly composition could even help with hangovers by replenishing fluids and aiding digestion. No wonder this delicacy is a staple in the cuisines of Germany, Eastern Europe, and France.

Kimchi, on the other hand, is a different breed of preserved cabbage. In Korea, where it originates, you may find at least 14 types of kimchi. There, it is its own category of side dishes made from different pickled and fermented vegetables with various flavors and consistencies. A common type of kimchi is made with napa cabbage, dried chili peppers, and fermented fish or shrimp (vegan varieties opt for seaweed and shiitake mushrooms). Then, it undergoes a process of lacto-fermentation, similar to sauerkraut, making both a nutritious and flavorful way to make your cabbage last.