VegBox Recipes Blog

Cavolo what?

Black Nero Cabbage? CAVOLO Nero Cabbage?

“Why don’t YOU try asking [for it] at your local Tescos? Make sure you get the facial expression down on your digital.”

So protested Jackaranda Rainbow in a recent email to us.

And we have to confess, JR has a point. If you get a veg box, or you have a local organic store, you’re probably in luck. But if you shop in a supermarket …

I have heard Cavolo Nero / Black Nero Cabbage described as a ‘sexy’ member of the cabbage family. Now I accept that for many people, someone’s unavailability can kind of make them sexy … You know, forbidden fruit and all that … But does this hold for cabbage?!

I put my money where my mouth is, and checked out Tesco online. Nope. Not a whiff of a Cavolo anything. Next I checked out a local, more specialised supplier of organic veg, and yep, they had it. And yep, it was, er, slightly more expensive than a Tesco’s white cabbage. £1.99 versus £0.31 for the same amounts.

So returning to the Cavolo Nero as ‘sexy’ veg theory, maybe it’s not just its unavailability that makes it such a turn on, but also how much money it’s worth. By this reasoning, perhaps I should be leaving VegBox Husband for Simon Cowell?!

Yikes!

steamy date!

In conclusion, if you’re getting a veg box delivered, and it has some Cavolo Nero in it, brill. I can heartily recommend the Black Nero Soup (which doubles up as a deeply scrummy pasta sauce). I picked up (ha ha ha) 200g of our elusive brassica last week for a steamy dinner date and was not disappointed.

But if you’re buying your seasonal veg yourself from the supermarket, and you’re watching the pennies, the great news is that white cabbage can be just as delicious. In particular, I’d point you in the direction of our recipes for Mustard Cabbage and Spicy Cabbage Soup.

What recipes do you love to dig out for regular old white and savoy cabbages? Do share them and let us know if we can add them to our main recipes listings. Of course we’ll include a big credit to you in the text!