Vegetable: Rode Kool (Red Cabbage)

Rode Kool (Red cabbage) is a common vegetable in Dutch cuisine.

It is also known as purple cabbage, red kraut or blue kraut after preparation. The leaves of the red cabbage have a dark red/purple color.

When you’re cooking red cabbage you’ll notice that the cabbage will turn blue. To keep the red/purple color it’s important to add vingar or some kind of acidic fruit to the dish.

Brassica Oleracea

The botanical name for Rode Kool (Red Cabbage) is:
Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. rubra

The purple-leaved variety of Brassica oleracea Capitata Group.

Previous/other names

The darkest and oldest variety of red cabbage used to be called “Niggerhead” in English and “Negerkop” in Dutch. At the request of a British European Parliament Member the name was changed in Europe (around 1987). He said that calling a variety of cabbage in such a way is racist and he asked the European Commission to remove the word from it’s official catalog of vegetable species. The European Commission shared the MP’s views and decided to rename the cabbage to Red Head (Roodkop)

When searching for seeds for Red Cabbage you could still come across the old name for Red Cabbage.

Rode Kool (Red Cabbage) and Dutch Cuisine

In traditional Dutch cuisine, red cabbage is often paired with red meat and game. In the Netherlands red cabbage is mostly used to prepare braised red cabbage with apples. A vegetable dish that’s often served with hachee (stewed meat) or as a side dish.

Sources:
Archive of European Integration, p. 8 (English)
Wikipedia (Dutch)
Wikipedia (English)
Vreeken’s Zaden (Dutch)

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