Freezing Cabbage

Do you ever freeze cabbage?  If not, you should try it!  It is so easy, and handy to have on hand.  When you want to make a pot of vegetable soup or some other soup with cabbage in it, you can take whatever amount you want out of the bag and add it the last 10 minutes or so of the soup cooking.  I try to have about 10 quart bags on hand for winter soup making.  That's enough cabbage for at least 20 pots of soup, or maybe more depending on how many other things you have in the soup.   Summertime cabbage fresh from the garden or the farmer's market is so much better than the stuff you can buy in the stores during the winter.   Here's how to do it:

First cut up cabbage into quarters, then shreds.  If the cabbage is larger, cut the quarters in half to shred.

Throw away the core and any hard or big pieces you don't like.

Blanch the shredded cabbage for 1 1/2 minutes in boiling water in a colander.

Cool the blanched cabbage in ice water for about 15 minutes.

Drain the cabbage well, and put into freezer bags.   Figure on about one pound of shredded cabbage per quart bag.  The cabbage I used here was about a 3 lb cabbage.

This winter, when you make a pot of homemade vegetable soup you'll be glad you have some shredded cabbage to throw in!