Checking Cabbage Leaves for Bugs

Sweet Valley Gal

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 4:35 pm

I would like to make stuffed cabbage. How do you check the cabbage leaves for bugs?

Thanks!

OOTBubby

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 5:13 pm

Sweet Valley Gal wrote:

I would like to make stuffed cabbage. How do you check the cabbage leaves for bugs?

Thanks!

Go to the Star-K website. They have good video clips of how to check and what to look for. I did it with no other experience from that and found plenty of bugs. They were mainly in the outer green leaves and if I were to do it again, I'd discard those before checking.

SorGold

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 8:44 pm

Boil thoroughly and then rinse in strong stream of water
Or
Freeze for 48 hours and then defrost and rinse in strong stream of water

Dini20

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 8:44 pm

Freeze the head of cabbage for a couple of days & then not only is it easier to work with, you just have to wash the leaves well.

OOTBubby

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 8:48 pm

Dini20 wrote:

Freeze the head of cabbage for a couple of days & then not only is it easier to work with, you just have to wash the leaves well.

AFAIK you still need to check it. The ones I checked had been frozen and defrosted and I certainly found bugs in them.

Sweet Valley Gal

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 8:59 pm

Dini20 wrote:

Freeze the head of cabbage for a couple of days & then not only is it easier to work with, you just have to wash the leaves well.

Thanks all. Its ok to freeze it now until Thursday night?

paprika

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 9:02 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

Dini20 wrote:

Freeze the head of cabbage for a couple of days & then not only is it easier to work with, you just have to wash the leaves well.

AFAIK you still need to check it. The ones I checked had been frozen and defrosted and I certainly found bugs in them.

Many times they are inside the veins of the leaves, so washing is not enough. They look like white thick hairs.

Dini20

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 9:48 pm

I actually just asked my Rav to be sure I was passing on the correct info (I had to call him for something else anyway) and he said you just have to wash them under running water after they're defrosted. Once they've been frozen they lose their grip & should come off under the running water. He's big in Bodek so he knows a lot about cleaning vegetables. And yes, it should be fine to freeze until Thurs night.

paprika

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 11:06 pm

Dini20 wrote:

But what about the worms that crawled inside the veins? The can't possibly come sliding out. They're under the skin.

Dini20

Tue, Mar 15 2011, 11:21 pm

Honestly, I dont know. I trim the hard veins off - I don't know if that gets rid of them. I follow what my rabbi says. I guess everyone should follow theirs.

mommalah

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 8:49 pm

Can I run it directly under warm water after removing it from the freezer without defrosting?

paprika

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 9:46 pm

mommalah wrote:

Can I run it directly under warm water after removing it from the freezer without defrosting?

You won't be able to separate the leaves when frozen. To separate the leaves before freezing is very difficult.

The benefits of freezing are:
1. Separates easily.
2. Becomes see through, so it's easy to see the worms.
3. Becomes slippery, so worms slide off more easily.

Sweet Valley Gal

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 9:49 pm

And btw, I read somewhere that cabbage lasts up to 12 months in the freezer so it sure will last until next week.

mommalah

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:00 pm

paprika wrote:

mommalah wrote:

Can I run it directly under warm water after removing it from the freezer without defrosting?

Actually it worked pretty well! The force of the warm water separated the leaves nicely. I will NEVER attempt boiling the whole cabbage again. Freezing rocks!

Sweet Valley Gal

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:01 pm

If the cabbage is frozen, how do you wrap it around the meat mixture? Are you supposed to wait until it defrosts?

paprika

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:04 pm

Sweet Valley Gal wrote:

If the cabbage is frozen, how do you wrap it around the meat mixture? Are you supposed to wait until it defrosts?

Once you separate the leaves, wash them and check them, how could they still be frozen? Am I misunderstanding you?

paprika

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:06 pm

mommalah wrote:

paprika wrote:

mommalah wrote:

Can I run it directly under warm water after removing it from the freezer without defrosting?

Actually it worked pretty well! The force of the warm water separated the leaves nicely. I will NEVER attempt boiling the whole cabbage again. Freezing rocks!

It's good to hear that you don't have to wait till it defrosts. Thanx for letting us know.

Sweet Valley Gal

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:07 pm

paprika wrote:

Sweet Valley Gal wrote:

If the cabbage is frozen, how do you wrap it around the meat mixture? Are you supposed to wait until it defrosts?

Once you separate the leaves, wash them and check them, how could they still be frozen? Am I misunderstanding you?

Nope. The stupidness is all me... LOL

Never dealt with cabbage before so im not familiar with how the form is when its frozen and how long it takes to defrost.

Sweet Valley Gal

Sun, Mar 27 2011, 12:11 pm

Im hoping to make these tonight. One more question. How long before I want to start do I take the cabbage out of the freezer? Am I supposed to let it defrost?

Thanks!