Mary Allen
Whoever mentions cabbage here usually means a head of cabbage from the market or from the shop. This vegetable is called head cabbage. There are different types of cabbage, namely white cabbage, pointed cabbage, and savoy cabbage. These three are light green and slightly whitish. Then there is the purple-red cabbage.
Cabbage used to be a typical winter vegetable. Cabbage heads can be stored well in a cool place. In the past, you just dug a hole in the ground, put the cabbages in there, and covered them with dirt. This was particularly important when there were no cold rooms. Cabbage is also rich in vitamins and therefore good for your health.
Cabbage can be sown in spring and harvested in fall. If the heads are left over the winter, they will grow tall and develop flowers in the spring. When pollinated by insects, seeds grow. You can collect them and sow them next spring.
Today it is assumed that the cabbage originally came from the area around the Mediterranean Sea and from the Atlantic coast of Europe. It has been an important part of European culinary culture for many hundreds of years. Red cabbage and white cabbage are particularly popular in German cuisine: white cabbage, for example, is used to make sauerkraut, which has a very long shelf life. Coleslaw also consists mostly of white cabbage. Cooked red cabbage is a popular accompaniment to hearty meat dishes.
How do you classify cabbage in biology?
The type of plant is called “vegetable cabbage”. There are many different forms of this in nature. Man has grown many different vegetables from it: you eat the leaves of kale. The kohlrabi is a thick tuber, about the size of an apple, that grows just above the ground. The cauliflower actually resembles a white flower. Broccoli is similar but less dense and whitish-green. With Brussels sprouts, small heads of cabbage grow on a long stalk. In addition, of course, there are all varieties of head cabbage and a few other varieties.
The cabbage belongs to the cabbage genus. This genus also includes the plant species rapeseed, from which cooking oil is pressed. The genus also includes mustard and some other plant species.