The Turkish pantry

Cabbage shoots

Tender cabbage regrowth shoots are often boiled and dressed as a salad in Aegean cooking. Ask what crop the batch comes from.

Last updated: 15 October 2026

This guide covers fresh cabbage regrowth sold as cibes, a culinary name rather than a separate wild species. İzmir’s account also uses cibes for regrowth after harvesting cauliflower and kale; ask the seller which crop your bunch comes from. The Tire name cücük is also recorded.

Compact fresh cabbage shoots with broad veined leaves and short pale stems in a colander.

Types & forms

Fresh regrowth shoots

Clusters of young stems and leaves; parent crop and maturity affect texture.

Different cabbage forms

Seed sprouts and a whole cabbage head are different forms.

What to look for when buying

Choose fresh, compact shoots with tender stem ends. Ask which vegetable they came from.
Select a batch with similar stem thickness so it can cook evenly.

Prepare & cook

Wash and trim, then boil until the stalks soften. Drain well.
The documented İzmir salad dresses the shoots with olive oil, lemon and garlic. Follow the recipe’s amounts.

Store it well

Refrigerate perishable greens at 40°F or below, protected from crushing. Buy what you can use promptly. Rinse under running water before preparation; discard damaged material. Washing does not make an unidentified wild plant safe.

Substitutions depend on the dish

Tender side shoots

Young cabbage greens or tender broccoli side shoots can fill the vegetable role; remove hard stalks and adjust cooking.

Broccoli florets

Make a different salad; they do not reproduce cibes’ leaf-to-stem balance.

Nutrition

No verified nutrition data is available for this ingredient.

At the Turkish table

Cibes is documented in İzmir salads and Aegean markets. Availability varies with the crop and harvest.