What is not to love about cabbage? Vibrantly colored, packed with nutrients, and quick to mature, these crunchy garden giants are a timeless classic that never seem to get old.

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I enjoy eating them raw in salads or cooked in stir fries, and I especially love them fermented as sauerkraut.

Cultivation and History

Cabbage is a cultivar of Brassica oleracea and is the same species but a different cultivar of other popular cole crops such as cauliflower, broccoli, and kale.

Heading cabbage has been a part of the human culinary story for a very long time and was likely domesticated sometime around 1000 BC where it was developed from wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. oleracea) which is found along the limestone cliffs of western Europe.

Cabbages became a significant part of the European diet by the middle ages. In Rome, it was a highly regarded vegetable considered something of an indulgence and was often used medicinally.

Around the same time, the Chinese and other Asian peoples developed their own versions from related brassica species which evolved into the Napa cabage (Brassica rapa subsp.pekinensis) as well as bok choy (Brassica rapa subsp.chinensis).

Later they developed their own Brassica oleracea cultivar called Gai lan or Chinese broccoli (Brassica oleracea var.alboglabra).

The vegetable came to the Americas by sea in the 1500s. It had become a staple on sea voyages because it was easy to preserve, and its high concentration of vitamin C helped

spring fall Brassica oleracea Cruciferous Vegetables Cabbage Heather Buckner China city Rome