HISTORY AND COOKERY 73 



Gerard describes a number of varieties of cabbage 

 swollen Colewort, double Colewort, Rapecole and 

 others; and Johnson in 1633 speaks of "the great 

 ordinary cabbage, known everywhere, and commonly 

 eaten all over the kingdom." 



Pliny's "Corinthian Turnip," of which "the root is 

 all but out of the ground ; indeed this is the only kind that 

 in growing, shoots upwards, and not as the others do, 

 downwards into the ground," was probably our Kohl- 

 rabi, which was introduced into England in the sixteenth 

 century. 



The Cauliflower, in which the flower stems and 

 abortive flowers have been artificially developed, was 

 introduced into this country, probably from Italy, by 

 way of Holland, in the sixteenth century, but for a long 

 time it was an expensive luxury. Parkinson refers to it 

 as a rare vegetable, and at the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century cauliflowers seem to have cost about 

 eighteenpence apiece. Gerard refers to the " cole- 

 flourey" as the best of all the kales, as indeed it is. From 

 the seventeenth century onwards, it has steadily gained 

 in popularity and extension of cultivation. 



The Broccoli is a close ally to the cauliflower. It 

 originated in Italy, as its name implies, and seems to have 

 been recognised as a distinct garden variety in England 

 at about the end of the seventeenth century. 



To boil Cabbage 



In boiling any members of the cabbage family, great 

 care should be taken to serve them at the right moment, 

 as a very short lack or excess of time spent in boiling 

 water quite spoils them. They should first have the 

 solid outside leaves removed, and then be placed in cold 

 salt water for a time and carefully examined for snails, 

 caterpillars, and other creatures. They should next be 

 placed in a large quantity of boiling salted water containing 



