With the popularity of so many cooking shows, these days, this has become a very popular question.  What is savoy cabbage?  More importantly, why are so many of the top chefs and cooks using it? Let’s get those questions answered.

 
Savoy Cabbage Appearance

Despite its rough looking exterior, the Savoy cabbage is tender and sweet tasting.

 
Let’s start with the appearance. As you can see from the picture, savoy cabbage has a very distinctive look. The highly contrasting shades of green, combined with the the deeply crinkled texture of the leaves, make savoy cabbages very appealing to the eye.
 
Some may look at these rough looking leaves and assume that they are tough and hard, even more so than the common, green cabbage that most people are used to, but they would be wrong.
 

 

But that brings to one of the many traits that makes savoy cabbage so popular with cooks and chefs.


Despite this rough appearance, the leaves of the savoy cabbage are tender, even when eaten raw. This makes them an ideal choice for salads, vegetable wraps, or as a bed for rice, fish, or other dishes. This in sharp contrast to the leaves of “green”  or “red”cabbages, that are hard and rubbery. Their only real use, in the raw state, is in making coleslaw. Even then, the texture can be too tough for many people to enjoy. On the other hand, savoy cabbage can make a tastier, and much more tender coleslaw.
 
As a side note, the terms “green” and “red” cabbage, refer to specific types of cabbages. Green cabbage is the typical hard, rubbery cabbage that most people are familiar with. Red cabbage is also fairly common. It is also hard and rubbery, with a slightly bolder flavor, than the green, and is most often used for the color contrast, rather than for the flavor. These are both high in many nutritional factors. Unfortunately, due to their texture and taste, people use them sparingly in their raw state. They become more tender, and less bitter tasting, when cooked, but they lose a lot of nutritional value in the process.
 

Savoy Cabbage is a milder and sweeter alternative to green or red cabbage cabbage

While the tenderness is a huge factor in the appeal of savoy cabbages, over other forms of cabbage, its taste is another reason for its popularity. The green and red cabbages have a slightly bitter taste, which some describe as peppery. Savoy cabbage, by comparison, is milder and sweeter, making it not only a good fit in salads, but also a much preferred alternative in just about any recipe that includes cabbage.

 The nutritional and health benefits of savoy cabbage

Like the rest of the cabbage family, savoy cabbage has high nutritional value. It is very low in calories, and contains no fat or cholesterol. It is a good source of dietary fiber, and protein. It is also rich in many vitamins and minerals, such as: Thiamine (B-1), folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium, manganese, calcium, copper, phosphorous, and copper. They are also an excellent source of both Vitamins K and C. Each of the different types of cabbage have high nutritional value, as well as tremendous antioxidant and disease combating properties. These properties make cabbage one of the worlds healthiest foods.

Savoy cabbage is the most tender and sweet variety of cabbage
As mentioned above, its tender leaves, and sweet taste, make it an ideal choice to eat raw in salads. These qualities also make it the preferred option in most recipes that include cabbage. In addition to its taste and texture, on the other highly beneficial trait is that it lacks the sulfur-like odor that most people, who have cooked cabbage, are more than familiar with. This makes Savoy cabbage the perfect choice of cabbage for cooking, as well.


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