Cabbage
White and red cabbages alongside Chinese cabbage, in the open-field rotations of the Levante's cool season — and in interior villages such as Abla and Abrucena, where it is grown organically.
The word "col" covers several related vegetables: white and red cabbages generally belong to Brassica oleracea, while Chinese cabbage is Brassica rapa. In Almería's Levante, recent plant-health monitoring cites the brassicas — and, separately, Chinese cabbage — among the leaf crops under watch, and provincial statistics confirm a real production, with no need for grandiose storylines.
It is a cold-weather crop in a province famous for heat: it uses the mild temperatures of autumn and winter to slowly form a dense head, cut when it reaches the expected weight and firmness. The "cool season" describes its cycle better than rigid dates — altitude, closeness to the coast and planting calendar bring the cut forward or push it back. In interior villages such as Abla and Abrucena, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, Chinese cabbage is also grown organically.
The family is wide and shares the winter table: in warm salads, stir-fries, or the stews where a cabbage leaf rounds everything off.
Varieties
- White cabbage
- Red cabbage
- Chinese cabbage