HISTORY AND COOKERY OF VEGETABLES 



BY THE EDITOR 



THE CABBAGE FAMILY 



THE name Cabbage is derived from the Latin Caulis 

 Capitatus (caulis, a stem, caput, a head), and the words 

 Kohl, Cauliflower and Kale show of course a common 

 origin from the same root- word as caulis itself. 



Several varieties of Cabbage seem to have been 

 cultivated by the Greeks and Romans : Selinoides or 

 Parsley-Leaved Kale, Corambe/Calabrian Kale and so 

 on. The value of this race of plants in providing a 

 supply of winter food was early appreciated ; and the 

 need which cabbages have for rich deeply-dug soil was 

 also an early discovery. Pliny speaks of nitre and sea- 

 weed as among the manures commonly applied. The 

 Greeks and Romans ate cabbage both as a boiled 

 vegetable, and raw, as a salad. Eaten in the raw state, 

 cabbage leaves were supposed to ward off drunkenness 

 and post-prandial headache, and were consequently in 

 great request in the later days of the Empire. 



The cabbage is a native plant of Britain, occurring 

 wild in all parts. It has been here cultivated since the 

 earliest times, and was a favourite vegetable of the 

 Saxons, who derived their name for the month of 

 February from the fact that sprouts began then to be 

 ready for cutting. 



Parkinson speaks of certain varieties of cabbage as 

 being cultivated for their decorative value : " Many of 

 them being of no use with us for the table, but for 

 delight to behold the wonderful variety of the works of 

 God herein." 



