How to Sauté Red Cabbage - A Classic German Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you cook red cabbage without losing color? ›

When cooked in an alkaline liquid like water, red cabbage turns blue. Adding vinegar, lemon juice, or another acid helps the cabbage to retain its red-purple color. Vinegar is also a bright flavor complement to the bold, earthy taste of the cabbage.

Red and green cabbage can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The difference between cooking green cabbage and red cabbage is just one extra step. The compounds that give red cabbage its color, called anthocyanins, are water-soluble and will turn an unappetizing blue color when cooked.

The cabbage juice is called an indicator because it can tell you the pH of a solution based on the color that it changes. The vinegar will turn the cabbage juice red because it is an acid (acetic acid). The baking soda will turn the cabbage juice greenish-yellow because it is a base (sodium bicarbonate).

Crisp it up: Shredded cabbage stays perky if it's soaked in cold water. This also helps cut the pungent edge. Drain well before combining with other ingredients.

Avoid any that have puffy leaves or outer layers removed. Red cabbages are easy to prepare. Strip off the outer leaves, wash, then slice into quarters, cut out the hard central core on each, then chop or shred.

The simplest way to cook red cabbage is to boil it - put the cabbage leaves or shredded cabbage in a large pan and cover halfway with water, bring to the boil, and cook for three to five minutes or until tender. It can also be steamed – around five minutes in a steamer should be sufficient for soft, tender leaves.

But red cabbage has higher levels of some types of antioxidants than other types of cabbage. These nutrients are thought to help reduce the risk of health conditions such as cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

While similar in flavor to its green counterpart, red cabbage tends to have a more pronounced earthy taste, complemented by a subtle underlying sweetness.

Size And Taste

Aside from the noticeable difference in color, red cabbage has an earthier taste and bulbs are smaller and denser. Green cabbage tends to turn sweeter when it cooks and a little bigger in size than the red.

What is the best companion for cabbage? ›

Plants like chamomile, wormwood, chives, summer savory, coriander, tansy, yarrow, dill, mint, thyme, hyssop, chervil, geranium, rue, sage, and oregano are all very beneficial companion plants to cabbage.

To get the most benefit, try to consume ½ to ¾ cup cooked or 1 ½ cup raw cabbage per day at least 5 days per week. This is pretty easy to do since there are so many ways to prepare cabbage. Traditional methods of steaming or boiling cabbage can extract flavor and nutrients.

A surprising thing happens when you place pieces of a red cabbage leaf in water. When you squish the pieces and water together, the water turns blue! If you add small amounts of different liquids, the cabbage-water will turn a variety of beautiful colors—pink, purple, teal, or green.

Lock in the colour by adding a touch of vinegar when cooking red cabbage in water. This stops the lovely deep purple hue from running.

Add lemon juice, vinegar, wine or another acidic liquid to the dish while the cabbage is cooking. While the alkaline quality of hard water can discolor the cabbage, the acidic quality of vinegars and other liquids helps protect the color.

Adding acid

One of the easiest ways to keep your red cabbage from turning blue when you cook it is to control its acidity level. Delishably says that by adding a bit of a mild acid like lemon juice, you can slightly boost the acidity of the vibrant vegetable.

When you sauté red cabbage, the acids evaporate off and it can turn blue. All you have to do is add lemon juice or vinegar to bring back the bright red color. For this same reason, you may have seen a blue circle around the cherries in cherry muffins.