Monday July 7, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study published in Food Chemistry suggests that among various cooking methods, steaming is the best method for the cooking of red cabbage.

The study compared various methods including steaming, microwaving, boiling and stir-frying for cooking red cabbage, one of the healthiest foods people can eat, to determine which method can best retain the nutritional values.

Compared with fresh cut red cabbage, all cooking methods caused significant reduction in anthocyanin and total glucosinolates content.  

Steaming retained greater amounts of vitamin C and DPPH radical scavenging activity, compared to stir frying and boiling, two cooking methods commonly used by the Chinese, which led to greater loss of total phenols, vitamin D and DPPH radical scavenging activity.

Uncooked red cabbage provided the highest nutrition, according to the study.

The study suggests that red cabbage should be consumed fresh and for those who can't consume raw red cabbage, steaming should be preferred.  (David Liu, PHD)

Xu F, Zheng Y, Yang, Cao S, Shao X, Wang H.  Domestic cooking methods affect the nutritional quality of red cabbage.  Food Chem. 2014 Oct 15;161:162-7.