Cabbage

Cabbage: Early Jersey Wakefield (Heirloom) (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

$1.00 - $5.60

The first Early Jersey Wakefield cabbages were raised in 1840 by a man named Francis Brill of Jersey City, New Jersey. Thirty years later, seed companies all over the region offered this seed for sale; growers appreciated its early harvest and small, tender heads.

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Cabbage: Late Flat Dutch (Heirloom) (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

$1.00 - $5.60

Late Flat Dutch cabbage can be traced back to 1840, when the earliest mention of this variety is found in the seed records of the Netherlands. German immigrants carried the seed with them to America, where it spread; by 1924, it could be found in local seed catalogs such as D. M. Ferry & Company.

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Cabbage: Red Acre (Heirloom) (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

$1.00 - $5.60

Cabbage is considered one of the oldest cultivated vegetables, since historians trace it back to 4,000 BC in China. The Romans also cultivated it and praised it for its healing qualities; philosophers Pythagoras and Cato both made the lowly cabbage the subject of a book. Jacques Cartier brought the first cabbage to America in 1536. Cabbages were quite popular in colonial America, being pickled and preserved in every possible way to provide food for the winter.

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Cabbage: Chinese

Cabbage, Chinese: Pak Choi (Heirloom) (Brassica rapa var. chinensis)

$1.00 - $5.60

Chinese cabbage dates back to the 15th century in China, when a pharmacologist of the Ming Dynasty considered it nutritionally beneficial. Later it became the main ingredient in kim chi, the national dish of Korea; Japanese soldiers also discovered Chinese cabbage and took it home with them after the war. Americans became familiar with this vegetable in the late 19th century.

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