I like cabbage, but cabbage does not like me. ugh. Love cabbage rolls.

Years ago I experimented with a recipe where I took a whole cabbage head, cored out the middle, par boiled it, then filled it with grd.beef, etc., can't remember exactly it's been so long ago, then folded the outer cabbage leaves up around it and tied it shut. Then baked it. If I recall I only did that once - but it turned out great.

Oh, and wanted to say your cabbages look wonderful.

Very pretty Susan! I like ALL cabbage. The chinese is leafier. All are VERY good!

Jasdip....That's an excellent recipe for cabbage rolls. Haven't had those in years...hhhhmmmm.....

We love cabbage, as long as it isn't over cooked and mushy. I like shrimp coleslaw, which is dressed with mayo thinned with Zesty Italian. I don't care for sweet dressings on coleslaw. Like it boiled with sausages, stuffed cabbage rolls, and shredded and put in hamburger soup at just the last minute so it doesn't over cook.

I didn't realize there was early and late cabbage -- you learn something every day :-)

I love cabbage just about any way it's prepared. A current favorite: saute onion and carrot until soft. Add chopped cabbage and cubed potato, cook until these are soft also. Then add a goodly amount of ground cumin. It smells spicy like chili, but the vegetables make it so sweet.

I made a slaw with Red Cabbage tonight to go with Fish Tacos. I grow cabbage every year. They just look happy!

Beautiful looking cabbage you have there. I love it both cooked and raw. DH only likes sauerkraut and pickled red cabbage. He claims unfermented cabbages gives him an upset stomach with lots of gas. My dog loves broccoli and Brussels sprouts but it gives her terrible gas too. No one wants to sit next to her on the sofa. LOL

I tried growing cabbage years ago, but I got every pest that goes after cabbage. There were slugs and snails, cabbage worms, cut worms, aphids, stink bugs, black rot and mildew. The only other plants that were as much trouble was broccoli and Brussels sprouts. It is funny that I can't grow those here because I am surrounded by huge thousand acre farms that grow those veggies because of the cool summers on the coast. Of course they probably spray and I try to grow organic.

"You cook it for a day, smell it for a mile, and burp it for a week!"

Now there's a rousing endorsement!! LOL I didn't know there was more than one kind of cabbage and Susan, yours are beautiful! I'm not really a fan, probably because when my mom would make it, it was really stinky. I have had it a few times when I did like it, but it was made by somebody who knows how to cook. Lots of the things mentioned sound good and I would probably eat them. I do like cole slaw though. I like the sweet kind. Since it's just me at home, I'm not sure I would try to make something using it, but you never know!!

I love cabbage, cooked or raw. We love a salad using it. And I like to throw it in stir fry or soup.

Didn't know there was a difference. I've tried to grow it years ago but didn't have a lot of success. I like mine in egg, rice, cheese & cabbage, a dish my mom used to make. Also like it in vegetable beef soup and like stuffed cabbage also, even though I've never made it myself. Maybe I should do it.

I just remembered that a local restaurant used to serve chili over grated cabbage. Cheese on top.

The posted recipe would be good for those avoiding carbs Since it has no rice.

Murraysmom, even though you live alone, it keeps a long time. I also make cabbage soup. I forgot to put that in my list.

Being German, cabbage is a staple for me. I grow red cabbage and can up a Spiced Red. My best year so far was a haul of over 55 pounds. I canned for days.....Thankfully I make plenty as I have a number of friends that ask for jars and I can share the bounty with them. This year I have six big heads forming and for those that go to the Cooking forum, Annie1992 is also growing some for me. I will make a run around Lake Michigan the end of August or so to visit her and the family.

As for the white cabbage, I generally buy one monster head and make cabbage rolls for the freezer, usually about 14 large rolls gets us through the year for a fast dinner. Love them. Now sauerkraut is one I cannot handle. The smell drives me right out of the house! I'm a bad German.......

Jasdip, sweet and sour cabbage soup is one of my favorites. I need to make some for winter.

I love a good cole slaw, but only if there's the tiniest bit of mayo in the dressing or none at all. In the Indian style I cook it with ginger, lentils, turmeric and sometimes a little coconut. Dh likes some chilies thrown in sometimes.

pk, are you from Germany or an American of German ancestry?

Jasdip, you remind me of something my mother told me.

My grandmother (my father's mother, my mother's mother-in-law) had raised 12 children on almost nothing, during the Depression, when she had a husband who couldn't do any work more demanding than keeping his wife pregnant.

We lived across the street from my grandparents, & my mother would often pick up a little of this or that at the grocery store for Granny.

One day Granny told her,

"If the cabbage is 5 cents a pound, get me 2 heads, but if it's 6 cents, just get me one."

oops, got so distracted looking out the window of the wayback machine I forgot to answer the question!

I sort of got out of the habit of cabbage, can't remember why, it may have been when my then-husband came in one evening when I had cabbage simmering & said, "This whole house smells like a big ole poot."

but just this afternoon a friend took me to a buffet-style restaurant, & I ate about 2 spoons of boiled cabbage.

so I think I'll have to buy some until I can plant/harvest some! (we have 2 dormant seasons here: winter cold & summer heat; we garden in spring & fall.)

Your cabbage preparation ideas have me psyched to try some of them. Sjerin, I never heard of cooking cabbage that way, but it sounds delicious. I'm fond of Indian food.

Caflowerluver, Thuricide (Bacilllus thurigenesis) is used by organic gardeners. It kills cabbage worms, but harms nothing else. The first time we grew broccoli I didn't know about Thuricide, nor was I aware of cabbage worms--until I put the broccoli in boiling water and the worms rose to the top. Eeek! I definitely became a Thuricide fan.

I don't grow it, and can't say that I love it, but we eat it occasionally, mostly sauerkraut. I don't care for traditional cole slaw, so just last week I made a summer slaw similar to grainlady's, but I use vinaigrette dressing on my finely shredded cabbage and veggies. The second day I added some sliced strawberries and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts. It was good!

My favorite way to have cabbage is to saute it in bacon fat, then add cooked lentils and green beans. Until I first ate this dish, prepared by my late MIL (without the lentils), I thought I didn't like cabbage at all.

Its part of my secret life: I eat raw cabbage.

I need to clarify. At present, I don't eat raw cabbage very often, and I do not live on a farm or farmette. When I was a kid, we snacked out of the garden during the summer. My lunch was augmented at times by a head of cabbage. I'd slice off a section, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and snack away. Other members of the family also ate their share until nothing but the stalk was left. Did we throw that away - no way! Give it to me; That's the best part.

The stalk has a bit of sweet flavor, but it must be prepared. There is a tough layer on the stalk where the leaves were attached. That part is bitter. The rind would be cut away leaving the tender heart of the stalk and that was a delicacy. Its easy to see where the rind quits and the heart material begins. The stalk can be eaten as is or with a bit of salt.

Its now a lifetime later and when I feel the need to add roughage, I get my cabbage from the grocery store. The geneticists must have been busy. I notice a difference. The stalks are much smaller in today's cabbage compared to long ago. Maybe what I dined on long ago were heirloom plants. Today's offerings do not compare. Today's stalks are smaller than yesteryear. I am getting old . . . .

My mother used to make stuffed cabbage rolls, butshe never trusted that they would stay wrapped. So she used to tie each one with cotton sewing thread...before you ate them you had to use a scissor to cut the threads. In later years she made it unstuffed style. She was not a particularly good cook, but I've never tasted any other stuffed or unstuffed cabbage which was as good as hers.

Mamagoose's recipe reminded me of this salad - which we've been having regularly since I have kale and parsley aplenty!

Kale-Cabbage Salad

3-cups total of a mixture of shredded kale and cabbage (red and/or green cabbage)

1 carrot, julienned

1/4 c. parsley leaves, chopped

2 T. chopped fresh chives (or red onion, green onions)

2 T. sunflower seeds

2 T. pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)

Dressing:

1 T. olive oil

1 T. Dijon mustard

1 t. apple cider vinegar

salt/pepper

Love cabbage - but never grew it. Our garden space is limited so we stick to tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. DH remembers his German grandfather's large stoneware containers full of sauerkraut (I could easily live without that).

Alisande - Thanks for the tip on Thuricide (Bacilllus thurigenesis). The worms weren't as bad as very tiny micro black bugs that were between the leaves of cabbage or Brussels sprouts and the head of the broccoli. It seemed like hundreds of them. They would come out in the water when cooking and no one would eat it after that. So I would toss it onto the compost pile.

DH mother was from Germany so he grew up with sauerkraut and pickled red cabbage. I like pickled red cabbage but don't like sauerkraut. The only way I eat it is chocolate sauerkraut cake. You won't taste the sauerkraut. People think it is either grated zucchini or coconut. He never had coleslaw until we were married. He doesn't like mayo dressing but likes the vinegar and oil dressing I make instead. Similar to Grainlady's but mine has sugar, so it is a sweet and sour flavor.

Coleslaw dressing

Heat together to dissolve sugar than chill. I put it in a bottle in the refrigerator and it keeps for a long time. Good as a lettuce salad dressing too. I sometimes add sliced fennel to my coleslaw just for a change.

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. mustard

1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp celery seeds

Here is one of my favorite recipes for cabbage via sauerkraut.

Old World
Sauerkraut Supper

3 strips thick-sliced, hickory-smoked bacon -- cut in small pieces
3 medium small Idaho potatoes* -- cubed
2 large Granny Smith apples -- cored and cubed
2 pounds Polish sausage, sliced -- remove casing to slice
3 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons flour
1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 27-oz cans sauerkraut**
1/2 cup water

Fry bacon and Polish sausage until crisp. Remove from skillet. Add flour to
drippings in skillet and blend well. Stir in sauerkraut; mix well. Place sauerkraut
mixture, bacon and sausage pieces, and all other ingredients in a very large
bowl; stir together thoroughly. Put in
crockpot. Cover and cook on Low 7 to 9 hours. (High: 3 to 4 hours).

*Not real small, but not large, large.
**I like to buy two 32-oz jars of Bush's Best Shredded Sauerkraut; use one
whole jar and all but approximately 10 oz of the other jar.

Also, upon reading others comments about the core of the cabbage, recalled my lesson from Mom about cooking boiled cabbage. Here is my story.

I loved Mom's boiled cabbage. After I married and moved away, I cannot tell you how many times I called Mom for instructions when I was preparing boiled cabbage. It never tasted like Mom's.

Moving forward to 1989 when I moved back to my home state. When Mom came to stay with me for a month, I told her I wanted her to watch me make boiled cabbage, so she could determine what I was doing wrong. She agreed to do that. As I was prepping the cabbage one evening, she watched me. Cut the cabbage into four wedges and removed the cores on each wedge before cutting each wedge into 1/2 and putting in a pot. She asked me why I hadn't put the cores into the saucepan; I told her I never did that, She told me that you had to add the cores so that when the cabbage was cooking the cores sweetened it and did away with the very strong taste. I said to her that she had never told me that in any of our phone conversations; she replied that she thought I would know to do so. Regardless, I proceeded to add the cores to the pan, added water about 1/2 way up the cabbage, added some salt, some cayenne pepper, and about 1 T of bacon grease. After the water came to a rolling boil, reduced the heat and let the cabbage simmer for approximately 20 minutes, just until tender. It was the best cabbage I had ever cooked. Sometimes, it is the smallest thing that can add that special quality to a dish. From that point on, I have always added the core to the pot when cooking boiled cabbage.

I grow and eat the classic Early Jersey, mostly because the plantlings are available to me for free.

I don't grow it but I like the Super Red variety for stir fry and salads.

I had no clue the core was desirable in any way. I suspect from now on the compost pile will miss it.

We don't grow it. I hate boiled or cooked cabbage, but love it raw with salt. I also love all the other members of that family...cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussel Sprouts. I remember in college when I'd smell the boiled cabbage coming from the dining hall and realize for that meal, I'd be eating bread.

I've never tried to grow cabbage, but I grew up on a farm, and we raised a lot of our vegetables. Mom did the gardening, Dad took care of the fields and the animals. Mom raised some cabbage, I honestly don't know if it was early or late. I didn't know until reading this, that there was a difference! Anyhow, I did not like it, at all! Mostly because she boiled it to death, as she did just about all vegetables. But that's just what all farm wives did back then (we're talking '40s and early '50's here).

Anyhow, quite a lot of her cooking was German influenced, or "Americanized German" type dishes. Spareribs and Sauerkraut was one of my very favorite dishes of all time (still is!). (Does that make me a "good German", pk?) (grin) Sometimes with, sometimes without caraway seed. Or a light sprinkle of Savory. Also loved cabbage rolls.

One way I often cook cabbage now: Dice some bacon and fry until crisp, remove from pan and set aside. Add cut up cabbage to bacon grease, & fry, stirring often, until cabbage is translucent and tender, with a little caramelized, but not over done or mushy. Remove from pan, stir crispy bacon back into it, and serve. I don't add any other seasonings to it, the salt from the bacon is plenty, and we love just the cabbage and bacon flavors, but I'm sure there are other seasonings that could be added that would be good.

I love cole slaw, too, especially with a light vinaigrette type dressing. It's good in chopped salads, too, with mixtures of things like different lettuces, cabbage, (red or green) broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale, etc. I am a 'core muncher', too.

I made sauerkraut a couple of times, it was so-o-o-o-o-o-ooooo good! I forget the name of the brand I prefer to buy, but I recognize the jar when I see it. I do NOT like sauerkraut that has vinegar in it! So regardless of brand, I make sure I read the label to make sure it doesn't have vinegar!

I guess you could say I like cabbage!

Rusty

(edited to add) P. S. Forgot to say, those are really gorgeous heads of cabbage, Alisande. I'm wondering what part of the country you live in, that can raise those beauties. I'm not real sure cabbage would grow very well down here, deep in the heart of Texas.

Rusty, I'm in the northeast. Cabbage must like it here, because we've always had good luck growing it.

Thanks--to you and everyone else--for all these great comments!

Cabbage is a poor excuse for food. I can't believe I'm the only one who never touches it.

Rusty, plant cabbage here in the autumn for a late-autumn or early winter harvest, or plant in winter for spring harvest..

It's a cool weather crop. like pansies!

Forgot...being a German I gotta love sauerkraut, but only with mashed potatoes.

Rusty, one of the nice things about living in the deep south is that you can have something growing in the garden all year round. Cabbage and other Brassicas are grown in the winter in very warm climates.

Even though I am now in the mid/upper south, I can still grow plenty of things in the fall/winter.

Here's an interesting tidbit about cabbage that is pretty unique in the plant kingdom. The cabbages, kales, broccolies, cauliflowers, and Brussels sprouts not only belong to the same Genus...Brassica....but also the same Genus....oleracea.

Thus, they are all varieties, variations of Brassica oleracea. The nomenclature of the pretty white cabbage shown by Allisande, for example, is Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. (form), alba.

Collard greens are Brassica oleracea var. viridis.

Okay...I'm probably the only one who thinks that it's interesting, lol.

littlebug posted: "Cabbage is a poor excuse for food." If you mean you don't like it, like I don't like watermelon or strawberries, that's different than being "a poor excuse for food".

FYI: According to "Eating on the Wild Side" The Missing Link to Optimum Health - by Jo Robinson, "Cabbage is the world's most popular vegetable, except in the U.S. where it ranks after potatoes, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, corn, peas, and green beans on the popularity scale."

What's New and Beneficial About Cabbage: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19

The growing season in Calgary is too short for me to even attempt a vegetable garden. Plus I don't have the patience.... We do eat cabbage. I like to fry up a package of finely diced bacon. Remove the bacon, but leave all the grease in the pan. (I use a Dutch oven). Then I shred 1/2 a cabbage and fry it in the bacon grease. I'll add a little itty bit of water and put a lid on it to soften it up a little faster. Then add a few spices, salt and pepper and add the bacon back in toss it all up and serve.

Sylvia and Rhizo, thank you for the info. Yes, I am aware that Cabbage (and the Brassicas) are cool weather crops. I've only tried to grow it once, (in the fall) and had very poor luck with it. I know a couple of farmers that grow vegetables to sell, and neither of them grow cabbage, so I've always thought it had something to do with our soil and/or water. I'll have to ask one of these days.

I don't garden (in the ground) any more, I'm border line physically disabled, the bending and stooping, as well as being on my feet much, are too hard on me, so I stick to plants I enjoy having and grow them in pots.

Rusty

Elmer, I was born in Chicago of German parents. I cook it, read it and speak it too.

Love cabbage!

Coleslaw

Stuffed cabbage

Sliced and Fried in butter with mushrooms and onions

Cabbage soup

And best of all KAPUSTA!!!

I love cabbage! Raw, cooked, mushy, green, red, sauerkraut. Love it. My DH always swore he hated cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Turns out, it was because his mother cooked them to death. I fixed cabbage just stir fried, still crunchy and he likes it just fine. Loves roasted Brussels sprouts.

Does anyone have a good vegetarian recipe for cabbage rolls? Ground meat and rice kinda loses it's appeal when you omit the ground meat. :)

I'm thinking that if you use a nicely seasoned tomato sauce with the rice, and sour cream on top, you'll never even miss the ground beef.

aok27502-

There are any number of vegetarian recipes that work well as substitutes for ground beef in recipes. These are three recipes I have in my file.

#1 Ground Beef Substitute

1 c. lentils

1 c. rice

4 c. water

Cook like rice and use as a substitute for ground beef.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#2 Ground Beef Substitute

1/2 c. quinoa*

1 vegetable bouillon cube (or beef flavored)

1 c. water

2 T. olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

2 t. minced garlic

1 (15.5) can black beans (UNdrained)

In a saucepan, bring 1 c. water and bouillon cube to a b oil. Add quinoa, stir, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until water is absorbed (approx. 20-minutes). Meanwhile, heat olive oil in skillet over med. heat. Add onion, stirring to coat, then garlic. Saute until translucent. Add beans and bring to a simmer, until heated thoroughly. At this point mash some of the beans with a potato masher. Once quinoa is cooked, mix it into the beans. Flavor to taste or to the purpose you will be using the substitute. Makes six 1/2-cup servings.

*If you happen to have red quinoa, it has better color than white quinoa for this recipe, but either will work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#3 Ground Beef Substitute

http://veggieconverter.com/whole-food-vegetarian-ground-beef-substitute-recipe/

I Googled Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage and got lots of hits. Here's one:

The Mediterranean Dish

I don't grow it but after reading all of the responses I am hungry for stuffed cabbage rolls! I follow the recipe in my slow cooker book , cook them, then freeze for a quick dinners.....yum!!

In my description above of Mom's boiled cabbage, need to advise that the cores are not eaten - just added for cooking.

I looked up Kapusta, Kathyg. Cabbage and sauerkraut--interesting! I decided I have to make it in honor of my great-grandmother. Her last name was Phillips, and she emigrated to the U .S. from England, but I found out last year she was born in what is now Poland--and the name started out quite different from Phillips!

I can't eat kielbasa, but I found a recipe that calls for mushrooms.

Don't grow it but I eat it.

Geez, grainlady, I didn't mean to offend. "A poor excuse for food" is just a figure of speech in my locality.

No, I don't like it.

I don't know where you live, Littlebug, but the comment made me wonder if you knew what food was for. :-)