I hadn't thought of red cabbage as a side-dish... I almost always have served it as a first course. I'll give it a try, thanks for sharing!

If you cook the red cabbage by itself in water, the red colored water can be used to determine the pH of materials/solutions. It is good for a week or so if kept refrigated. When added to acids (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.)it turns shades of red and purple while bases (detergent, drain cleaner [do not let the kids do this on their own] or baking soda turn more blue to greenish yellow. For more detail and a color scale:http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa012803a.htm

That's a very fascinating observation on red cabbage but I'm not sure if it will help the flavor profile of this dish to much. I hope you tried to cook this because it's really delicious and as an experiment in cooking my kids love it. When they get a bit older I may try your experiment too.

This delicious side dish for Pork and in my opinion also great with dark meats like Venison and Beef Rouladen, is further enhance with a hint of cloves and is defiantly better the next day.

I didn't have any apples or oranges on hand but this dish was still yummy without them. I used a bit more red wine vinegar too as I like dishes with a sour kick. Served it with some pan-fried pork medallions...mmmmm!