HISTORIC AND CULINARY 



" Chou marin sauvage d' ' Angleterre" was the term used 

 by Valmount de Boman to describe the seakale, and it is 

 a curious fact that though this delicious vegetable has 

 been for so long cultivated in England it has never suc- 

 ceeded in establishing a real footing across the Channel, 

 in spite of numerous attempts to introduce it from the 

 time of L'Obel, about 1810, onwards. One may search 

 the pages of the French cookery books, even the 

 book of Gouffe himself, in vain for any reference to 

 this delightful vegetable. Yet, when properly grown 

 and properly cooked, it perforce appeals to the most 

 fastidious palate, so that when a French cook such as 

 Ude settles in England before compiling his text-book, 

 he too falls under the spell and is bound to recognise 

 the plant's virtue. 



It is a native of England, and long before it was 

 cultivated in gardens was known and appreciated by the 

 natives of those parts of our coast where it grows. 

 They cut off the young shoots as much as possible 

 below the surface of the ground, thus obtaining the 

 flavour peculiar to the blanched condition. In the large 

 two volume work in folio entitled " A Complete Body 

 of Planting and Gardening," by the Rev. William 

 Hanbury, published in 1 770, a short section is devoted 

 to the plant. "The Sea Colewort," he says, "is now 

 preferred by many as an esculent to most of the spring 

 productions. It has not been many years introduced into 

 the garden for kitchen use, but has been long known 

 to the inhabitants who live near the sea, where the plant 

 grows naturally, and who gather it in the spring as soon 



