Cabbage

Cabbage
Cabbage, cultivar unknown
Cabbage, cultivar unknown
Species
Brassica oleracea
Cultivar group
Capitata Group
Origin
Mediterranean, 1st century
Cultivar group members
Many; see text.
Cabbage, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal   100 kJ
Carbohydrates     5.8 g
- Sugars  3.2 g
- Dietary fiber  2.5 g  
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 1.28 g
Thiamin (Vit. B1)  0.061 mg   5%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.040 mg   3%
Niacin (Vit. B3)  0.234 mg   2%
Pantothenic acid (B5)  0.212 mg  4%
Vitamin B6  0.124 mg 10%
Folate (Vit. B9)  53 μg  13%
Vitamin C  36.6 mg 61%
Calcium  40 mg 4%
Iron  0.47 mg 4%
Magnesium  12 mg 3% 
Phosphorus  26 mg 4%
Potassium  170 mg   4%
Zinc  0.18 mg 2%
Percentages are relative to US
recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database
Cabbage farmer in Gardena, California, 1951

The cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae), used as a vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, forming a characteristic compact, globular cluster (cabbagehead). Cabbage is normally green, but, if left to rot, can turn a sickly brown.

The plant is also called head cabbage or heading cabbage, and in Scotland bowkail, from its rounded shape. The Scots call its stalk a castock,[1] and the British call its head a loaf.

The cultivated cabbage is derived from a leafy plant called the wild mustard plant, native to the Mediterranean region, where it is common along the seacoast. Also called sea cabbage and wild cabbage, [2] 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 which surpasses all other vegetables." [3] The English name derives from the Normanno-Picard caboche (head), perhaps from boche (swelling, bump). Cabbage was developed by ongoing artificial selection for suppression of the internode length. It is related to the turnip.

Cabbage leaves often display a delicate, powdery, waxy coating called bloom. The sharp or bitter taste sometimes present in cabbage is due to glucosinolate(s).

Contents

Uses

The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the leafy head; more precisely, the spherical cluster of immature leaves, excluding the partially unfolded outer leaves. The so-called 'cabbage head' is widely consumed raw, cooked, or preserved in a great variety of dishes.[4][5]

Cooked

Cabbage is often added to soups or stews. Cabbage soup is popular in central Europe and eastern Europe, and cabbage is an ingredient in some kinds of borscht. Garbure (from Provençal garburo) is a thick soup of cabbage or other vegetables with bacon. Cabbage may be an ingredient in kugel, a baked pudding served as a side dish or dessert. Cabbage is also used in many popular dishes in India.

Boiling tenderizes the leaves and releases sugars, which leads to the characteristic "cabbage" aroma. Boiled cabbage has become stigmatized because of its strong cooking odor and the belief that it causes flatulence. Boiled cabbage as an accompaniment to meats and other dishes can be an excellent source of vitamins and dietary fiber. It is often prepared and served with boiled meat and other vegetables as part of a boiled dinner. Harold McGee has studied the development of unpleasant smells when cooking brassicas and reports that they develop with prolonged cooking. According to Corriher's Compendium smell doubles when prolonging cooking from 5 to 7 minutes; for best results cabbage should be sliced thinly and cooked for 4 minutes.

Cabbage rolls, a type of dolma, are an East European and Middle Eastern delicacy. The leaves are softened by parboiling or by placing the whole head of cabbage in the freezer, and then stuffed with a mixture of chopped meat and/or rice. Stuffed cabbage is called holishkes in Yiddish. A vegetable stuffed with shredded cabbage and then pickled is called mango.[6]

Bulgarian Cabbage

Bubble and squeak consists of potatoes and cabbage or, especially formerly, potatoes, cabbage and meat fried together. Potatoes and cabbage or other greens boiled and mashed together make up a dish called colcannon, an Irish Gaelic word meaning white-headed cabbage, grounded in Old Irish terms for cabbage or kale (cāl), head (cend or cenn) and white (find). In the American South and Midland, corn dodgers were boiled as dumplings with cabbage and ham.[7]

Fermented and preserved

Cabbage is the basis for the German sauerkraut, Chinese suan cai and Korean kimchi. To pickle cabbage it is cut fine, placed in a jar, covered with a brine made of its own juice with salt, and left in a warm place for several weeks to ferment. Sauerkraut, or simply kraut, was historically prepared at home in large batches, as a way of storing food for the winter. The word comes from Old High German sūr (sour) and krūt (herb or cabbage). Cabbage can also be pickled in vinegar with various spices, alone or in combination with other vegetables. (Turnips can be cured in the same way.) Korean baechu kimchi is usually sliced thicker than its European counterpart, and the addition of onions, chillies, minced garlic and ginger is common.

Medicinal properties

Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C. It also contains significant amounts of glutamine, an amino acid, which has anti-inflammatory properties.

It is a source of indole-3-carbinol, or I3C, a compound used as an adjuvent therapy for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, a disease of the head and neck caused by human papillomavirus (usually types 6 and 11) that causes growths in the airway that can lead to death.

In European folk medicine, cabbage leaves are used to treat acute inflammation.[8] A paste of raw cabbage may be placed in a cabbage leaf and wrapped around the affected area to reduce discomfort. Some claim it is effective in relieving painfully engorged breasts in breastfeeding women.[9]

Varieties

There are many varieties of cabbage based on shape and time of maturity.[10] Cabbages grown late in autumn and in the beginning of winter are called coleworts; their leaves do not form a compact head.[11] "Colewort" may also refer to a young cabbage. The word comes from Latin caulis (stalk of a plant, cabbage) and Old English wyrt (herb, plant, root). A drumhead cabbage has a rounded, flattened head. An oxheart cabbage has an oval or conical head. A pickling cabbage, such as the red-leafed cabbage, is especially suitable for pickling; krautman is the most common variety for commercial production of sauerkraut. Red cabbage is a small, round-headed type with dark red leaves. Savoy cabbage has a round, compact head with crinkled and curled leaves.[12][13] Winter cabbage will survive the winter in the open in mild regions such as the southern United States; the name is also used for Savoy cabbage.[14] Other traditional varieties include "Late Flat Dutch", "Early Jersey Wakefield" (a conical variety) and "Danish Ballhead" (late, round-headed).

Production

China is the leader in production of cabbages followed by India and then the Russian Federation.

Top Ten Cabbage Producers — 11 June 2008
Country Production (Tonnes) Footnote
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg People's Republic of China 36335000 F
Flag of India.svg India 5283200
Flag of Russia.svg Russia 4054000 F
Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea 3000000 F
Flag of Japan.svg Japan 2390000 F
Flag of Poland.svg Poland 1375900
Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 1300000 F
Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia 1250000 F
Flag of the United States.svg United States 1171350
Flag of Romania.svg Romania 1120000 F
Newworldmap.svg World 69214270 A
No symbol = official figure, P = official figure, F = FAO estimate, * = Unofficial/Semi-official/mirror data, C = Calculated figure A = Aggregate(may include official, semi-official or estimates);

Source: Food And Agricultural Organization of United Nations: Economic And Social Department: The Statistical Devision


Diseases

Among the many destructive diseases affecting the cabbage and often other members of the cabbage family[15] are:

Pests

(See also List of Lepidoptera that feed on Brassica).

Many insects and other pests infest cabbage plants, among them:

Related Brassica varieties and species

Besides cabbage proper, the species Brassica oleracea has many distinctive cultivars which are commonly known by other names. They include: broccoli (Italica Group); Brussels sprouts (Gemmifera Group), whose edible small green heads resemble diminutive cabbages; cauliflower (Botrytis Group), whose flower cluster is used as a vegetable; Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli (Alboglabra Group); kale or spring greens, a very hardy cabbage (Acephala group) that has curled, often finely cut leaves which do not form a dense head, and that some consider to be the original form of the cultivated cabbage; collard greens, a type of kale; and kohlrabi (Gongylodes Group), having an edible stem that becomes greatly enlarged, fleshy and turnip-shaped. Hybrids include broccolini (Italica × Alboglabra Group), broccoflower (Italica × Botrytis Group) and choumoelliera or marrow cabbage (cabbage, kohlrabi and kale).

There are two species of Chinese cabbage (lettuce cabbage, pakchoi, pechay) from Asia that somewhat resemble cabbage and are widely used as greens: Brassica chinensis, bok choy or celery cabbage, which forms a loose, chardlike head of dark green leaves, and Brassica pekinensis, or pe-tsai (peh-tsai), forming an elongated compact head of broad, light green leaves. Rape, an annual herb (Brassica napus) of European origin but known only as a cultigen, differs from the cabbage in its deeply lobed leaves, which are not hairy like those of the turnip.

Other 'cabbage' plants

A number of other non-cruciferous plants bear the name "cabbage" or are likened to it by their appearance, though many are not food plants with parts for human consumption.

Linguistic and vernacular associations

During World War II, "kraut" (cabbage) was a racial slur for a German soldier or civilian.

A thick-witted person may be called a cabbagehead. In Hebrew, the term "rosh kruv" (cabbagehead) implies stupidity.

The French use a term of endearment, "mon petit chou" (of a man/boy) or "ma petite chou" (of a woman/girl), equivalent to "darling" but translated literally as "my little cabbage" in school French textbooks in England since the late 1950s. This is still used today, as can be seen in this extract from Shamrocks Falling by P A Matthews: [24]

“See there ma petite chou, now everything is worked out.”
Patricia turned and walked back to the desk. “Gérard, why must you call me ma petite chou all the time?”
“Ma chérie, it is an endearment. If you understood that in French…”
She cut him off mid sentence. “I know what it means Gérard. Even with my limited French vocabulary I know that it means my small cabbage.”
“But that is not the endearment. You do not understand…”'

The word also refers, much more complimentarily, to a pâtisserie item called "chou à la crème", a sphere of light airy pastry split and sandwiched with a thick layer of whipped or confectioner's cream. In addition, it is also used for a soft, cabbage-shaped ornament or rosette of fabric used in women's wear, such as a knot of ribbons on a dress or a crushed crown on a hat. "Chou" comes from the Latin caulis (stalk).

In England, cabbage is rarely used slang for cash, especially paper money or bank notes.[25] It is also used vulgarly for a person in a vegetative state, and by extension "cabbaging" means "lazing about".[26]

References

  1. ↑ OEDILF - Word Lookup. The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form.
  2. ↑ 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cabbage - Wikisource.
  3. ↑ "Brassica est quae omnibus holeribus antistat." (De Agri Cultura, sect. 156.) LacusCurtius • Cato On Agriculture — Sections 156‑157(English). LacusCurtius • Cato — de Re Rustica, Capitula CLVI‑CLVII(Latin). Bill Thayer's Website.
  4. ↑ Cabbage Recipes and Cabbage Soup Recipes. Southern Food and Recipes - Southern-Style Recipes, Crockpot Recipes, Casserole Recipes, and More.
  5. ↑ 4,187 Recipes Which include cabbage Recipezaar: "Where the World's Recipes Are".
  6. ↑ Stuffed Mango Peppers Recipe #277564 @ Mass Recipes. "Massive amounts of recipes!"
  7. ↑ Daniel Health and Disease: A Book for the People, by William Whitty Hall. Published by H.B. Price, 1859. Page 267. Google Book Search.
  8. ↑ Helen M Woodman. "Cabbage leaves are poor man's poultice". British Medical Journal. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  9. ↑ Alison Munns. "Cabbage leaves can help inflammation of any body part". British Medical Journal. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  10. ↑ Cook's Thesaurus: Cabbages.
  11. ↑ Colewort: Definition from Answers.com. "Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more".
  12. ↑ Cavolo Verza - Savoy Cabbage. Italian Food.
  13. ↑ The Joy of Savoy Cabbage. By Barbara Damrosch. The Washington Post, November 8, 2007; Page H07.
  14. ↑ How to grow winter cabbage and savoy cabbage - by Terry Blackburn. Helium - "Where Knowledge Rules".
  15. ↑ Cole Crop Fact sheets list. Cornell University.
  16. ↑ UC IPM: UC Management Guidelines for Black Leg on Cole Crops. University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.
  17. ↑ CTVdB Virus Description - 00.057.0.01.072. Turnip mosaic virus. Universal Virus Database (ICTVdB), International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. On Website of the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information.
  18. ↑ IPM Fact Sheet Swede Midge 1/20. New York State Integrated Pest Management Program.
  19. ↑ Cabbage Curculio. Organic Gardening Information.
  20. ↑ Mines of British flies and other insects - Phytomyza rufipes {Diptera: Agromyzidae}.
  21. ↑ Cabbage Seedpod Weevil. Agriculture and Rural Development : Ropin' The Web, Alberta, Canada.
  22. ↑ Sanitary entomology: The Entomology of Disease, Hygiene and Sanitation, by William Dwight Pierce. Published by R.G. Badger, 1921. Page 78.
  23. ↑ Plant Protection - Cabbage.
  24. ↑ Writing.Com: Shamrocks Falling Chapter 9
  25. ↑ Cabbage entry at Reference.com's Thesaurus
  26. ↑ Cabbage entry at Peevish slang dictionary

See also

External links