Cabbage

Why cabbage is rated moderate

Cabbage carries fructans, and that is what keeps it at moderate rather than low even at a fairly ordinary helping. At 1 cup (94g) it is moderate, and at 1⅓ cups (125g) it is high. Nothing lower has been tested, so there is no tested serving where cabbage comes back low. The catch with cabbage is that a cup of it does not look like much: shredded raw it is airy and disappears into a bowl, and cooked it collapses to a fraction of its raw volume. Both directions make it easy to serve yourself well past 1 cup (94g) while feeling like you took a side portion.

What changes your risk

• Serving size 1 cup (94g) is moderate and 1⅓ cups (125g) is high, which is not a large step. Measuring is the only reliable way to stay where you meant to be, because cabbage is deceptive by volume in both its raw and cooked forms.
• Raw volume versus cooked volume Braised, fried or stir fried cabbage packs down hard. A modest looking pile of cooked cabbage on the plate can easily have started as several cups of shredded leaf, so measure it shredded and raw before it goes into the pan.
• Boiling water is the only method that removes anything Fructans are water soluble, so boiling cabbage in plenty of water and pouring the water away takes some of them with it. Sauteing, roasting, steaming and stir frying do not, because nothing leaves the food. Cooking cabbage longer does not break the fructans down.
• Stacking fructans Cabbage is a classic tipping food because it turns up as a side rather than the main event. Ordinary wheat bread, beetroot and okra carry fructans too, so cabbage with a sandwich, or cabbage in a stew alongside other fructan vegetables, is more than one source in a single meal.
• Slaw and kraut Coleslaw is an unmeasured pile of cabbage, and the dressing is often built on onion. Sauerkraut and kimchi are not covered by the tested servings above, and kimchi is usually made with garlic and onion in any case.

Swaps

For the crunch and shred that cabbage brings to a slaw or a bowl, carrot, cucumber and bell pepper cut thin do the job and stay low, and baby spinach or bok choy leaves give you the cooked greens. Bok choy in particular stir fries into the same role in a noodle dish. The two things people reach for instinctively are the two that do not help: cauliflower is high, and Brussels sprouts carry fructans of their own, so neither solves a fructan problem. Ordinary wheat noodles or bread served alongside stack on the same subgroup rather than balancing it, so gluten free noodles or traditional sourdough spelt bread is the better partner.

How to lower the load

Buy a quarter or a half cabbage rather than a whole head where you can, because a whole one sits in the fridge daring you to use it up in bigger and bigger portions. Shred it and measure 1 cup (94g) before it goes into the pan or the salad bowl, since measuring afterwards will flatter you in either direction. Wrap the cut face in something and keep it in the crisper, where it stays firm for well over a week. If you are cooking for a household, portion the cabbage onto plates in the kitchen rather than putting the pan on the table. Deli and takeaway slaw is impossible to measure and usually generous, so it is the version least likely to sit near 1 cup (94g).

Common questions

how much cabbage is low fodmap

There is no tested serving where cabbage is low. It is moderate at 1 cup (94g) and high at 1⅓ cups (125g), so 1 cup (94g) is the amount to measure to, not to relax about.

is cabbage high in fructans

Fructans are the subgroup driving cabbage's rating. The fructan load puts it at moderate at 1 cup (94g) and takes it to high at 1⅓ cups (125g).

does cooking cabbage make it easier to digest on low fodmap

Cooking does not destroy fructans. Boiling it in plenty of water and pouring the water away removes some, because fructans are water soluble, but frying, roasting and steaming leave them in the food. The tested servings are what to work from either way.

is sauerkraut the same as cabbage for fodmaps

The tested servings above cover cabbage, not sauerkraut or kimchi, so they do not tell you where fermented cabbage sits. Kimchi also usually contains garlic and onion.