Super Foods: Buying Cabbage

When searching for the best cabbage, always select the ones that still have the crisp green leaves intact. Don't allow a few chew marks from  insects bother you. That just means that the growers did not over do it on the insecticides. That is a good thing. Just in case some of nature's little creatures have hitched a ride into your shopping cart, always add a little salt to the water when washing the veggies. If there are insects, you will see them floating on top of the water.

cabbageMake sure that the leaves break easily and there is moisture in them. If the leaves are limp and turning yellow, don't buy them. Never purchase cabbage that have been stripped of the green leaves and wrapped in plastic. That means that the is old. It also means that the vital nutrients have been degraded  Produce that was grown close to home will be freshest. My farmer father would advise you to give those plastic wrapped things to the livestock. Supermarkets don't have any livestock so they wrap up vegetables that have gone beyond their time and sell them to the unsuspecting consumer.

One should also avoid the giant cabbage. Nothing is gained in having a gigantic cabbage except that you may brag to your friends. When you cut into one of those giants you discover that the leaves are growing tightly together. A cabbage should have moisture inside. Sometimes you might even find decay in the oversized ones. Select young tender cabbage with crisp green leaves still intact. Store them in the vegetable bin whole. They lose vital nutrients when cut up days before cooking. Another thing, wash those crisp green leaves, cut them up finely and cook with the rest of the cabbage.
Cabbage is a very inexpensive way to eat nutrient rich food. I no longer grow them, because they are grown in New Jersey and sold at very reasonable prices in most supermarkets. The cabbage has many uses. It has even been hailed as a good way to lose weight. I have never tried that, but I do not that they keep one very regular which does aid in weight loss. This veggie is made up of mostly water so please don't add fattening stuff to an otherwise healthy meal choice.
Benefits:

Vitamin A: responsible for the protection of your skin and eyes.
Vitamin C: an all important anti-oxidant and helps the mitochondria to burn fat.
Vitamin E: a fat soluble anti-oxidant which plays a role in skin integrity.
Vitamin B: helps maintain integrity of nerve endings and boosts energy metabolism.