The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowThe Field Guideby Moss & Marrow
Also called rodekool.
In the Netherlands, red cabbage is in season August to November, at its best in October, November and December. After the harvest, Dutch stores carry it until April. Red cabbage is in season now, in November, and this is the peak.
Red cabbage is harvested from August to November and stored through the winter. It is the cabbage of Dutch Christmas tables.
Deep colour and a tight head.
Vitamin C, vitamin K and the anthocyanins that make it purple; more vitamin C than white cabbage.
To get the most: Raw, thinly sliced with a little vinegar, keeps the colour and the vitamin C; the classic long braise keeps the fibre and the colour but not the vitamin C.
On our nutrient density chart, a normal serving of cooked red cabbage (150 g) gives about three-quarters of a day's vitamin K and about half a day's vitamin C, counting what your body absorbs. That puts it in the top 25% of the 244 foods we scored.
Content per NEVO, the Dutch food composition database. This describes what the food contains, not what it does for you.
Braise slowly with apple, a little vinegar and cloves. Raw and thinly sliced it makes a crunchy slaw.
The tough outer leaves are not waste: slice them into ribbons and pan-fry them in butter or oil until the edges crisp. The core is edible sliced thin.
6 producers in The Field Guide sell red cabbage, according to their own website or shop list, each checked against our inclusion criteria and listed by province. Another 172 growers passed our bar for this food group; we have not yet recorded what each of them grows, so ask them or search the map.
Open on the map →Dates read on 2026-10-11. If a window on this page is wrong, tell us with a source.
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A free list of what’s in season this month, then one slow email a month with seasonal tips and goodies.