Cabbage

In season for 52 weeks of the year, cabbage is a kitchen faithful with magnificent culinary potential. Ranging from the slow-growing hardy Savoy to the sweet and delicate hispi, it lends itself to quick cooking, slow braising and being eaten raw in thinly sliced slaws.

Strangely, as a nation we spend more money on peppers than we do on all cabbages and kale combined – this despite the fact that the former is in season here for only six weeks, is many times the price and is far less versatile and nutritious. A good part of the Isle of Thanet in Kent, once a major region for cabbages, has been glassed over to create Planet Thanet, where vast quantities of gas are burnt to coax peppers from a plant that never touches the soil. Such is the loss of connection with our own food culture and agriculture that many feel intimidated by a hearty Savoy in their kitchen. So, yes, we are on a bit of a mission to change that, to re-embrace our horticultural heritage, to rehabilitate the humble cabbage and to banish the memory of that sulphurous stench of abused white cabbage to distant memory.