Violetti: a cabbage that makes you look twice

Who's behind it

Timmerman-Bergen & Swager grow in Sint Pancras, above Alkmaar. The company emerged roughly twenty years ago from the merger of two families and runs year-round with about one hundred people. In North Holland there are 300 hectares of pointed cabbage, plus 35 hectares of little gem, romaine and pak choi. At the Portuguese location in Alpiarça there are another 200 hectares of pointed cabbage and 250 hectares of butternut squash. That second location is no luxury: it keeps supply flowing year-round, so you get the same quality in February as in September. The company is GlobalGAP and PlanetProof certified and grows under Better for Nature & Farmer, with minimal synthetic fertilizer.

What makes it genuinely different

The cabbage in question here is the Violetti: a regular pointed cabbage crossed with red cabbage. The color runs purple-red all the way to the heart, brighter than red cabbage and without the dull exterior. Two things make it interesting for the kitchen. It's softer and sweeter than white pointed cabbage, so you need less blanching time. And it doesn't bleed when you stir-fry or grill it, unlike red cabbage which turns your whole pan purple. You keep the color on the plate instead of in the liquid. The variety comes from breeder Hazera and has been in German and Scandinavian stores for years; in the Netherlands it's still an outsider. Alongside Violetti they grow white pointed cabbage, Samantha savoy cabbage and red cabbage, so you can play with color and structure within one cabbage season.

How you stand out with this

Shave the Violetti raw and thin on the mandoline and you have a salad base with a color no other cabbage gives you. Quick sauté preserves the tint; long stewing pulls it toward gray-purple, so keep it crispy. As a cabbage vinaigrette, pickled or charred next to game or duck, it puts a dish in a different place immediately. For guests expecting "just cabbage," that's exactly the moment they look twice. A vegetable at its best in spring and summer, grown close to home yet available year-round in the same quality. That's a short supply chain you can name on your menu.