Frosty Reception

• Cabbage can get the big chill from Mother Nature before it even gets to your kitchen. The cool-weather vegetables sometimes get exposed to colder-than-normal temperatures during spring and fall cold snaps. If your cabbages get just a touch of frost, harvest them and used them in either fresh or cooked dishes -- the vegetables won't be much affected by frost or even a light freeze. If they actually go through a hard freeze, they will likely still be salvageable, but more prone to mushiness. These heads should be used in cooked dishes.

Intentional Iciness

• To freeze your garden bounty -- or a farmers' market bulk buy -- start by washing and shredding the heads. The vegetable freezes best if blanched before going into the freezer. Blanching involves briefly cooking the shredded vegetable in boiling water, for about 90 seconds, then plunging it into ice cold water. After draining and drying the cabbage pieces with paper towels, place them in freezer bags that are labeled with the date and the contents.

Freezing Fundamentals

• Use garden-damaged frozen cabbage as soon as possible. Outdoor-frozen cabbage hasn't had the pre-freeze processing necessary to kill damaging enzymes. Left for more than a day or two, these enzymes will eventually break down the taste and texture of cabbage that's been thorough a hard freeze, so that the vegetable isn't worth eating even if cooked. Those exposed to a regular frost can wait longer. Cabbage you deliberately freeze is best used within about nine months of processing.

Cooking Cabbage

• Unless your recipe specifies otherwise, it's best to cook freezer-frozen cabbage right away rather than thawing it first. If you're cooking damaged or freezer-frozen cabbage in boiling water, it will be ready to eat after about three minutes of cooking. Sample a few pieces before removing the cabbage from the pot -- they should be heated through, as well as pliant in texture. The frozen cabbage also takes well to stir-frying, because any excess water from the freezing process will evaporate in the high heat.