Round cabbages are slowly coming back in the Suva Municipal Market and other roadside stalls as well bringing relief to many shoppers.
Round cabbage can be eaten raw in salads and coleslaw or cooked quickly as a crunchy vegetable in soups and stew, in coconut cream with fish, simply boiled as a side dish or fried with other vegetables.
Harvest to table website shares there are three kinds of round-headed cabbage: white, red, and savoy.
The leaves of the white and red cabbage are usually smooth and shiny with prominent veins. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are light green and crinkled.
Cooked right these cabbages can be crisp with a mild and sweet flavour.
Round-headed cabbage can be found in most markets most of the year, but particularly during the cool months.
There are more than 400 varieties of cabbage but not all are round headed according to the website Harvest to Table.
Choose: Select cabbage that is heavy for its size and is compact; with shiny, crisp, well-coloured leaves. Cabbage heads should be firmly packed and be unblemished and free of cracks.
Avoid cabbage with yellowed leaves, a strong smell, or a woody, split core. Cabbage leaves will be the darkest on the outside of the head.
As cabbage ages, the outer leaves are pulled off and lighter leaves are revealed.
The colour of cabbage leaves can indicate the age of the cabbage.
Prepare. Soak cabbage in salt water or vinegar for about 15 minutes before using to free the tightly packed leaves of insects. Thin rinse the head thoroughly in cold running water.
Remove the core before cooking or shredding the cabbage.
First, remove the first few layers of leaves. Then use a thin bladed knife to cut a cone shaped section out of the core.
If you want shredded cabbage, cut the head into quarters and then cross-cut thinly.
For the mildest flavour and tenderness, cut out and discard the fibrous thick ribs from the outer leaves.
Stored cabbage will keep for about two weeks in the vegetable drawer or in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator.
Cut cabbage should be stored away from other foods.
Nutrition. Raw cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C and folic acid, good source of potassium. Cooked cabbage is a good source of vitamin C and potassium and contains folic acid.
