Pressed cabbage salad

Brassicas are high-fibre superstars. Give them top billing with this recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

All hail cabbage and kale!

These marvellous brassicas are true superheroes among veg. Cheap and plentiful, they are full of unique plant chemicals that can protect our hearts and our brains. Their deeply flavoured leaves are powerhouses of taste and goodness.

As well as being classified as brassicas, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and kale are also known as cruciferous vegetables (due to the cross formed by the four petals of their flowers). Whatever you call them, they have an incredible nutritional CV and offer plenty of fibre — both insoluble and soluble types, including gut-protecting prebiotic fibre — and a heap of other leafy goodness. An excellent source of vitamin C, folate, calcium, potassium, selenium and iron, brassicas are also one of the only providers of plant chemicals called glucosinolates, which contribute the bitter notes you can taste in these plants. Glucosinolates have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.