"I heard you like cabbage"

[Jenise]

This morning while doing errands I was listening to The Current on CBC Radio One (Canadian) and heard this absolutely delightful story about a woman on Prince Edward Island named Anne Thurlow who became concerned, early in the pandemic, about local cabbage farmers who lost their commercial customer base due to restaurant closures. So she formed a cabbage fan club to make fellow islanders aware of the issue, which logically included collecting and sharing recipes in order to convince people to use more cabbage at home.

Eventually she compiled the collection into a book she self-published and sold through a local vegetable seed company, and she sent a copy to Sam Sifton of the New York Times who she had a bit of a crush on. She pinned a simple and direct note to it, "I heard you like cabbage." Some months later she awoke from a nap to find out that Sam had mentioned her book in his column.

And her world changed.

The host of the program discussed all this with her live on air, and then, to Anne's shock, they brought in Sam on another line. I thought she was going to faint. He was obviously much bemused by the whole thing. It's a great story well told, worth a listen to:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/pei-cabbage-cookbook-1.6773637

And yes, Sam really does like cabbage.

Haha, great stuff! Although after listening to it, I thought Sam sounded more amused than bemused

Huge cabbage lover here, both red and green. I love coleslaw, no mayonnaise though. I always have some left over that starts to brown on the cut edge. I pull out, trim it up and slice into thick rounds. It is sauteed in butter and olive oil, with Fox Point Seasoning. Yum! Love it in soups, as well.

[Jenise]

Haha, great stuff! Although after listening to it, I thought Sam sounded more amused than bemused

I stand corrected, you're right.

Karen, I too love cabbage. Green more than red. I'm reminded that I went through a phase of making a dish, perhaps British in origins, where one layers cabbage with tomatoes, onions and meat--those three at a minimum--and bakes it for about two hours into a sludge of sorts suitable for scooping over rice. I absolutely loved that--and then forgot about it.

That sounds delish and I forgot about my stuffed cabbage rolls!

I'm a big fan of red cabbage (although I am not past having a little choucroute/sauerkraut on occasion).

The red has way more nutritional content and I've been experimenting a bit lately with various spice/herbs as well as what fruit s work best with it (Jenise, you will get to see if you approve at the next wine lunch).

Thinking of adding dried currants next......

[Jenise]

I love cabbage. I like strings of the red included in salads for the crunch and contrast with dark greens, but for the most part it's green cabbage I love (sauteed, stir-fried, charred, braised in chicken broth, etc. I always have a head in the fridge.

I love cabbage. I like strings of the red included in salads for the crunch and contrast with dark greens, but for the most part it's green cabbage I love (sauteed, stir-fried, charred, braised in chicken broth, etc. I always have a head in the fridge.

It also keeps very well. Sue had a head she had forgotten about in the fridge for quite awhile and was going to toss it out. I stopped her and told her to watch - I cut off the base, and peeled off the outside 'weathered' leaves and inside was a smaller but pristine cabbage - which we ate that night.

(PS - if you keep your head in the fridge, don't you catch a lot of colds.....?)

[Jenise]

Yes, that happens. Cabbage is sweet and the sugars oxidize--the discoloration is just that. That said really old cabbage will be like really old radishes--they'll get bitter and hotter when the sugars fade.