Paul Gayler

Chinese Flowering Cabbage

Appears in
top 1000A Passion for Vegetables
A Passion for Vegetables

By Paul Gayler

Published 1999

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Flowering cabbage, or choi sum, has a delicate prettiness quite unlike our solid, round native cabbages. Its pale stalks are topped by tender green leaves and small yellow flowers rather like cowslips. Although the stems have the best flavour – delicate, sweet and only slightly cabbagey - the leaves are used too.

Buy tender, fresh, bright-green stems in flower, with crisp stalks, and use within a couple of days. Simply wash and trim if necessary before use. Small heads can be cooked whole.