The Power of Cruciferous Vegetables

by Elizabeth Burgos

The Power of Cruciferous Vegetables

Last week was one of my favorite CSA shares because we received Broccoli and Cabbage, my two favorite vegetables!

 Both vegetables are part of the Brassica genus of plants called Cruciferous vegetables (Wikipedia).

Cruciferous vegetables are packed with nutrients, including beta-carotene, vitamin C, E, folate, fiber and minerals.

 When you Google “Cruciferous Vegetable” you will find that they are known to help prevent cancer! According to The National Cancer Institute, consuming cruciferous vegetables break down to form compounds that have been found to inhibit the development of many cancers.

Check out whfoods.com. It gives you the nutritional content of this wonderful family.

How do you use your cabbage?

 I particularly love to roast it.

I remove the outer leaves, cut the cabbage into 4 wedges and remove the stem. Depending on how big the cabbage is, you can cut them again until you have 8 wedges. Lay them on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil with salt and pepper. My husband loves bacon so I sometimes wrap bacon around them! I use the oven at 400 degrees and check on it frequently to flip them when I see the bottom getting crunchy on the bottom.

Enjoy!