Good Eats: Cabbage – The Super Food

With all of sun we have had over the last week (and heat – lordy, 95 degrees is warmer than i remember), our garden is growing and growing. We don’t have any produce yet (hence, no pictures), but the peppers, tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers all have blossoms and small fruits growing. I’m sure it will all hit at once. Isn’t that the way these things go? Luckily, we have our CSA to keep our desire for tasty veggies going strong.

This week was pretty heavy on the meats and cheese. We received a Good Natured Family Farms Roast, Good Natured Family Farms Cheddar Cheese, Farm to Market Baguette, Traffic Jam from Blackberry Hill Farms, Red Cabbage from Twin County Family Farms, and Hydroponic Tomatoes from Nebraska. On a side note, the bread was eaten with 15 minutes of making it home – as well as half of the cheese. (We are suckers for that bread and cheese combination.)

This is third week in a row we have gotten cabbage from our CSA and it got me thinking that cabbage seems like such a foreign vegetable to most of us. Seriously, when is the last time you bought cabbage “just because”? Or how often do you see people with cabbage in their grocery carts? We all probably have one or two recipes we use cabbage in, but it doesn’t seem as versatile as the potato or squash. We really have to “research” to find recipes for cabbage in american culture (and even harder if we don’t want them to have a mayo base dressing).

And that is a shame, because cabbage is one of those “super foods”. It is filled with so many vitamins – one serving provides 50% of your vitamin C and 90% of your vitamin K. But lately the research has shown us that even it’s high vitamin to low calorie ration pale in comparison to its anti-cancer fighting ability. It contain compounds called indoles, which have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer dramatically. A study of Polish women (where cabbage is a staple) compared women who ate only one serving or less of cabbage per week during adolescence, those who ate four or more servings – the women who ate four or more servings were 72% less likely to develop breast cancer as adults.  And if that wasn’t enough, cabbage also stimulates the immune system, kills bacteria and viruses, and is a good blood purifier.

While I don’t think I will be eating a head of cabbage every day, I think I am going to start adding into my salad mix. It is cheap, it is full of vitamins and fiber, and it reduces the risk of cancer. One more thing to love – how it is grown. Can you not see God’s love when you look at those big cabbage leaves cradling the head? It’s no wonder it is a super food.

If you are interested, here are some of my favorite cabbage recipes: