HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 5, 31 July 1946, Page 7

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

COOKING A CABBAGE (By the Department of Health) Your choice of vegetables is limited through the winter and until late spring, when the flush, of the new season’s vegetables fills the shops. There is one standby that never fails you—cabbage —but it is one vegetable that’s more often abused than any other. In a great many homes cabbage gets half an hour’s cooking or more, and is put on the table as a soft yellowish conglomeration. It is not much use to anybody that way. Cabbage is ruined by being boiled too long in to much water. Taste is spoilt, colour goes and vitamin C is practically written off—lost into °t,he water and gone out with the steam.

If you grow your own cabbage, cut it at the last moment before use. Do not get into the habit of soaking it, or if you do, never' more than half an hour in salted water; make the soak as short as possible. Preferably just wash and cut into quarters, then shred it with a sharp knife. Put it into the saucepan where a teacup of salted water (or just enough to prevent burning) has come to the boil. A quarter-pint of water —a teacupful—is plenty for l-21b. of cabbage. Remember to have the water boiling before you add the shredded cabbage. Your pot lid should fit tightly to keep the steam in. If you have lost or damaged the lid so that it fits badly, use a plate with a weight on top. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes only with the lid on, and give it a shake every now and then. Strain off the water (save it for soup or gravy) and serve at once. Cooked this way the cabbage will be crisp and green and really pleasant to taste. Try this rapid cooking method, and cabbage becomes delicious.