Easy and Delicious Boiled Cabbage Recipe - The How-To Home (2024)

FAQs

Why do you put vinegar in cabbage when boiling it? ›

Then, there is the red cabbage which tends to turn blue when cooked and so, most commonly just eaten raw. If you do want to cook it, add a touch of acid like lemon juice or vinegar to lessen the effect.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add cabbage. (It's OK to crowd the pot because the cabbage will shrink!) Step 2Boil until tender, about 5 minutes for shredded cabbage and 10 minutes for wedges. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate to dry.

Heat a large saute pan or similar heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter. Once the butter is melted, add the cabbage, salt, and pepper. Saute for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and begins to brown.

Baking soda does help green vegetables retain color, but it causes undesirable color changes in red cabbage—it turned blue. The science can be distilled to this: Adding baking soda to cooking water makes it slightly alkaline, which stabilizes the green color of chlorophyll.

Red cabbage offers another bonus: It's rich in natural pigments called anthocyanins, which new research suggests may help boost insulin production and lower blood sugar levels. Finally, cabbage is often prepared with vinegar, which can help lower the GL of your whole meal.

It's Packed With Nutrients

Half a cup of cooked cabbage has about a third the vitamin C you need for the day. It also gives you doses of fiber, folate, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and K, and more.

A cup of boiled cabbage has just 33 calories. It is low in fat and high in fiber. Furthermore, cabbage increases excretion and detoxification, which speeds weight reduction and improves liver health.

Boil cabbage by cleaning and preparing it, then cooking it in hot water for just a few minutes.

Before you cook that cabbage, studies suggest you wash it before beginning to cook it.

Why do you soak cabbage before cooking? ›

Crisp it up: Shredded cabbage stays perky if it's soaked in cold water.

In fact, the most common cause of unappetizing boiled cabbage is overcooking. Overcook the hearty leaves, and you'll end up with limp, stinky mush that no one wants to eat.

Steaming is a gentle cooking method that helps retain the cabbage's crispiness and nutrients. To steam cabbage, place it in a steamer basket over simmering water and cover with a lid. Steam until it's tender yet still slightly crunchy. If you plan to sauté or stir-fry cabbage, consider blanching it first.

The salt pulls moisture out of the cabbage, seasons it, and leaves you with a super-crunchy texture that isn't raw or tough-tasting. Rinse! Rinse well to purge the salt. Get rid of the excess water.

If you add vinegar it will stay the original color. The reddish pigment in the cabbage acts as a pH indicator like litmus paper. Your method of cooking is alkaline which isn't bad but would change the color of cabbage.

Cabbage contains an insoluble sugar and a lot of fiber. These can cause gas in some people. However, there are some herbs that might be useful, cooked with the cabbage, to reduce the amount of gas. These include dill seed, sage, caraway, basil, oregano, ginger, fennel, and allspice.

Some cleaning enthusiasts recommend boiling a pan of vinegar to help get rid of strong odours by turning the acetic acid into a vapour that might more readily react with any volatile bases in a room.