Braised Red Cabbage
My great-grandmother, Arizona Henry, loved her cabbage. At our house, cabbage showed up several times a week, and no one questioned it. It was just part of life and a staple at the dinner table. If there was cabbage on the stove, you knew dinner was going to be seasoned to perfection.
Grandma believed cabbage could go with just about any meat. It could stretch a meal when money was tight, balanced out a heavy plate, or stand proudly on its own with a piece of cornbread or hot homemade bread. She didn’t talk about “superfoods” or “nutrition trends,” but somehow, she always knew what was good for you. Long before studies and headlines caught up, she trusted vegetables that had fed generations before her and her mother’s advice about cooking with cabbage. 
Turns out, her intuition was right. Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable that helps reduce the risk of certain cancers. It’s low in calories and carbohydrates, high in fiber, and packed with vitamin C and vitamin K. Recent medical studies even suggest that a diet high in cabbage can lower your chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Fermented cabbage goes a step further, creating probiotics that nourish gut health. Cooked, raw, steamed, in soups — however you eat it, cabbage earns its place at the table.
But for Grandma, the real magic wasn’t in the vitamins. It was how cabbage brought people together, the cheat price tag, and how good it kept in the root cellar. The smell of it simmering meant the house felt warm. It meant someone had taken the time to cook a healthy meal. It meant you weren’t eating alone, but with the special people in your life.
This braised red cabbage recipe is simple, cheap, and full of comfort.
Braised Red Cabbage
1 small head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salted butter
2 large, sweet onions, chopped
1 Honeycrisp apple, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and apples and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften and smell sweet.
Add the cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes, letting it wilt slightly. Stir in the apple cider vinegar and sugar, mix well. Cover with a lid and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and deeply flavorful.
Serve warm or cold, it’s just as good the next day, maybe even better.
Adding cabbage to your plate is cheap, delicious, and healthy, but more than that, it’s a way of carrying forward a tradition. Every time I make this dish, I think of Grandma standing at her lime green kitchen stove, confident and calm, feeding her family. And somehow, it still feels like she’s feeding all of us now. Enjoy!
Stacy Schultz is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, a former Morgan County Commissioner and is the author of “It’s Stacy’s Grandma ‘Zona’s recipes” and “Great Grandma Zona’s Wisdom & recipes: Comfort food made easy.” She has been in healthcare for 35 years at War Memorial Hospital.