Cabbage & Gourds

Cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin and three cabbages. A broad page held together by how these are cooked rather than by botany — mostly the bulk vegetables that carry a curry, a bake or a stir-fry.

On the cabbages: round is the standard green one for everyday cooking, white is tighter and crisper and the one for a slaw that has to stay crunchy, and red is firmer again with more of a peppery edge — it also bleeds, so keep it away from anything pale.

Split the page in two for storage. The hard ones — cabbage, pumpkin — keep a week or more. The soft ones — cucumber, zucchini, eggplant — want using in three or four days and do not like being cold and wet at the same time.