The Cool Crop

From hearty root vegetables to crunchy cabbages, winter produce offers a surprising range of flavours – and health benefits.

- Lindyl Crabb

Cooking with winter vegetables doesn’t have to be dull – use the freshest produce available and you will add a rich flavour to your meals. You’ll also be getting the nutrients you need to stay healthy during winter, explains nutritionist Jacqueline Alwill, author of Seasons to Share.

Here we show you what’s on offer, and how to enjoy these veggies in your cooking.

Cabbage

“Cabbage offers a bounty of nutrition,” says Alwill. A type of cruciferous vegetable, it’s a good source of glucosinates, which have been shown to stop cancer cell growth. You can eat it raw, steamed, baked or fermented, as in sauerkraut.

To make sauerkraut, nutritionist Lee Holmes, founder of healthy eating website Supercharged-food. com, suggests combining shredded cabbage and salt in a jar, packed in tightly, which will slowly ferment over a few weeks. Fresh cabbage will keep for a week in a bag in the fridge.

Look for: A whole cabbage. Once cut, cabbages lose some of their vitamin C content. Green and red cabbages offer similar nutrients, but red cabbage has 10 times more vitamin A and twice the vitamin C content, while the green variety is higher in vitamin K.

Pumpkin