how to eat / cook cabbage

cabbage ins and outs

Cabbage varieties: bok choy, cannonball, choy sum, Chinese/Napa, green, Portugal, red, & savoy -to name a few 
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Season: summer - autumn - winter
Taste: bitter/sweet, pungent and peppery notes with crunchy flavor
Nutrition: 85% CHO, 12% protein, 3% fat 
Volume: quiet to moderate
Technique: bake, broil, braise, grate, pickle, raw, steam, stuff [overcooking brings out pungent, sulphuric notes]
Flavour Affinities: 
cabbage + apple
cabbage + carrots + ginger + mint + rice wine vinegar
cabbage + ginger + lime
cabbage + potatoes + turnips

Cabbage Pairings: build your own recipes by using complimentary flavors from these foods
APPLES, including JUICE & CIDER
bell peppers
butter
CARAWAY
CARROTS
celery
cheese
cilantro
cream 
dill 
GARLIC
GINGER
HORSERADISH
leeks
lemons 
mushrooms
MUSTARD
nutmeg
OIL, especially OLIVE, sesame, vegetable, walnut
onions
parsley
pepper
POTATO
rice
salads
seeds
sesame
VINEGAR

grilled cheese with kimchi

how I cook & eat cabbage

• Grilled cheese & kimchi: just like a classic grilled cheese, but with added kimchi. Serve with wilted greens for balance nutrition.
• Fermentations: kimchi & sauerkraut [served with maultaschen, a German ravioli; click for the recipe]
• Stuffed cabbage with veal in a tomato sauce, Polish-style 
• Cole slaw: red cabbage, apple, cider vinegar, onion

How do antioxidant properties of raw and processed [i.e. fermented] cabbage compare?

The answer to this question is not simple nor clear, and like most nutrition recommendations, results may vary. Factors that influence the nutritional value of cabbage are based on season of harvest, cabbage variety [red vs. green], amount of salt and time spent in brine, & cooking methodology (Martinez et al., 2009; Chun et al., 2004). However, if one were to compare raw cabbage and sauerkraut using nutrition analysis, one would discover that raw has slightly higher, nonsignificant levels of antioxidants. 

So, how does this all make sense? The key to understanding why the analysis shows a discrepancy is because they are not considering all the factors mentioned above, which can be time consuming, tedious, and maybe impractical. 

Let me sort this out for you. 

After a short review of articles, I can say a few things with certainty: 

• red varieties have greater antioxidant activity, despite cooking methodology when compared to green varieties 
• specific types of antioxidants are influenced by processing and packing containers
• raw, red cabbage varieties have the highest amount of antioxidant capacity (increased capacity=good news; its the response to fight off free radicals)
• any 100g serving of cabbage can provide a significant amount of antioxidant capacity, 57.1 - 695.6 mg 

In other words, EAT CABBAGE ​