Cabbage - Cavolo, in Italian

Definition: The cabbage family was one of the first groups of vegetables domesticated by our farming ancestors. The early forms were not the head cabbage that are so important today, but rather looser leafed forms along the lines of black leaf kale.

In addition to breeding head cabbage, our ancestors bred flowering varieties, including broccoli raab, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Cabbage grows very well in the winter months, and is therefore one of the most popular Italian winter vegetables.

Common Italian cabbage varieties include:

• Cavolo Verza: Savoy cabbage, also known as curly cabbage. A head cabbage with bright green, characteristically crinkly leaves. Very popular in northern Italy.
• Cavolo Cappuccio: Red or green smooth-leaved head cabbage. Common in Northern Italy, especially the Northeast, where it is also used to make sauerkraut.
• Cavolo Nero: Black leaf kale, a leafy cabbage with dark blackish-green leaves. It's popular in central Italy, especially Tuscany.
• Cime di Rapa or Rapini: Broccoli raab, one of the more rustic flowering cabbages; one eats both the tiny florets and the leaves. Popular in central and to a greater degree Southern Italy.
• Broccoli: Broccoli, the classic green flowering cabbage, which has been grown in Italy since the time of the Romans. It's more popular in the south than the north, and though now generally accepted was long considered poor people's food.
• Cavolfiore: Cauliflower, the prince of the flowering cabbages. It's especially popular in Southern Italy, but is enjoyed by all.

Cabbage Facts: Cabbages are also called Crucifere in Italian, because the four-lobed flowers resemble a Cross, and Artusi at one point remarks that they are also a Cross to bear -- i.e. they're windy.

The word Cavolo is also a mild expletive in Italian, rather like "Cripes" or "Heck" in English, and Cavolo! translates as Holy Cow!

Pronunciation: Cah-voh-loh