A FEW NOTES ON THE CABBAGE TRIBE.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 1, 6 January 1860, Page 4

A FEW NOTES ON THE CABBAGE TRIBE.

They are applied to a greater number of purposes than many would suppose, and afford an addition to food in a groat number of forms, ages, and parts, of the plant. The roots, the leaves, the stems, and the buds of the cenciferous esculents are eaten raw, or dressed in various ways, and the seeds of many species are valuable on account of the oil which they afford. Many astout cudgel and serviceable walk-ing-stick, isfurnished by the stem of the great Jersey cow-tree cabbage, In the northern departments of France, the longest of the stalks are used for supporting kidney beans and peas, &c., and also as cross-spars for the purpose of supporting the thatch or roof of the smaller class of farm-buildings, cottages, &c., and when kept dry are said to last upwards of half a century.

The poet Burns alludes to the costocks,

or cabbage stems, which, after the fibrous part was picked off, were boiled and eaten. Before the introduction of the turnip into general use in Scotland, this medullary substance of the stalks was very commonly eaten by the peasantry, while the outside portion was given as a dainty to the favourite milch cows. Few of our culinary plants have been more improved and extended by culture than the cabbage and its varieties. The effect of careful cultivation, improvement, and election of the most deserving varieties on many of our cultivated economical plants shows how much may yet be done by experimentalising on new tuberous roots and other esculents. Nor can a more suitable -example be adduced than to compare the insignificant weed-like original cabbage plant on the cliffs of our sea-coast with the gigantic tree or cow cabbage, the large close head of the drum head cabbage, or with the different forms or habits of growth apparent in the Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, thousand-headed cabbage, cauliflower, kohl-rabi, and numerous other varieties.

“ Much,” observe Messrs. Lawson and Son, “ has been said and written recommendatory of the cabbage tribe being more extensively subjected to field culture in this country, for feeding cattle, sheep, swine, and even poultry ; but judging from many trials which have been made, as well as from the natural habits of the whole tribe, their culture seems only likely to be attended with any chance of advantage on the most superior class of soils, particularly on such as are of rather strong texture, and where an abundant supply of manure can be had ; and even in many such cases it is questionable how far they ought to be preferred to turnips, over which, however, they possess the advantage of improving rather than deteriorating the quality of the milk of cows fed upon them, and also of growing freely on lands which are too stiff in texture for the growth of any sort of turnips.”

The extent of land under culture with cabbages as a field crop in the United Kingdom is very inconsiderable. In Scotland there were in 1857, 1704 acres, in Ireland, 30,011 acres, and in England and Wales, 97,334 acres with cabbages and a few other small green crops. Arthur Young wrote, that an average crop of cabbage on a dry soil, was about 30 tons, and on a sandy soil half that quantity. But although 30 tons per acre are often grown by good cultivation, yet few crops reach to that extent, and in Ireland the average yield is scarcely 15 tons the acre. As a pot-herb, cabbages, brocoli, &c., are in considerable demand, whether it be the Brussels sprouts, esteemed for their tenderness and good flavour; the savoys, with firm heads, and the best winter cabbage for family use; the solid heavy drum-heads; the sugar loaves; the red Dutch, for pickling and for salads; the early cauliflowers, &c. Ten years ago, Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his Statistics of British Commerce, estimated the weight of these vegetables brought annually into the London market at 80,000 tons of cabbages, 32,000 tons of brocoli, and 4150 tons of turnip tops. Single growers will sometimes send up to one salesman in Covent Garden market seven or eight waggon loads of cabbages daily, each comprising a hundred and fifty dozen. There are many others besides Dr. Johnson who think the cauliflower the best of all the flowers sent to Covent Garden.

When Bay made a tour along the eastern coasts of the kingdom in 1660, after describing the wretched system of Scottish agriculture, he goes on to say : —“ They have neither good bread, cheese, nor drink. They cannot make them, nor will they learn. Their butter is very indifferent, and one would wonder how they contrive to make it so bad. They use much pottage, made of eolewort, which they call ‘ kail,’ and sometimes broth of decorticated barley.” We cannot help sympathising with the unfortunate traveller when introduced to such a bill of fare as the natives of the north seem to have indulged in. We can understand liis discomfort at the taste and quality of cabbage soup and barley brae; and are not astonished to find that their agriculture generally was then at the low ebb the system of living starvation seems to imply. The kail-brose was then made with oatmeal; it was barefil kail or water kail. But the kail-brose of the present day is an improvement upon bygone broths. The “ Kailbrose o’ auld Scotland ” is celebrated to the same tune as the “ Boast Beef of Old England;” and though, with many of the ancient peculiarities of the people, it. has fallen much into disuse, it is still considered a national dish. Cabbage soup is, however, a very common dish in many countries. “ Kunestra verde ” —greens boiled in plain water, with a small lump of lard, is eaten by the poorer classes of Neapolitans, who cannot afford macaroni.

It is a joke in some of the foreign provinces of Russia, that the three mightiest gods of the Muscovite are Sshin, Tshai, and Shtshee —that is, rank, tea, and cabbage soup. In fact, this same shtshee, or cabbage soup, is the staff of life from the German frontier to Ivamtsckatka. Russian soldiers—hear it, ye Britons who feed on

beef—are nourished mainly on this cheap, and, we should deem it, innutritious food, which is thus compounded :—Six or seven heads of cabbage are chopped up and mixed with half-a-pound of barley meal, a quarter-of-a-pound of butter., a handful of salt, and two pounds of mutton, cut into small pieces, with the addition of a jug of gnass. With the very poor, of course, the meat and butter form no part of the mess; with the rich, other materials lend it a high flavour. Fasting shtshee is made of fish instead of meat, and oil instead of butter. “ Bosvinya '* is the ordinary summer food; it is a kind of cold shtshee. Cold gnass, raw herbs, cranberries, chopped cucumber, and fish, cut into small lumps, are its ingredients. The cabbage is very rich in gluten. The leaves, by boiling, are converted into a palatable food, without sensibly diminishing its nutritious qualities. Professor Johnson found that the dried matter of boiled cabbage still contained 33 per cent, of gluten. When eaten frequently, however, and in large quantities, they have, in common with nearly all kinds of food which are rich in gluten, a costive or binding tendency upon the human constitution; hence the propriety of eating them with fat or oily food.

There is a dish common in Ireland under the name of “ Kol-cannon ” —a mixture of potatoes and boiled cabbage, beaten together with a little pork fat, salt, and pepper. There are more ways to cook a fine cabbage than to boil it with bacon, and yet few seem to comprehend that there can be any loss in cooking it, even in this simple way.

Two-thirds of the cooks place cabbage in cold water and set it to boiling. This extracts all the best juices, and makes the pot liquor a soup. The cabbage-head, after being washed and quartered, should be dropped into boiling water, with no more meat than will just season it. Cabbage may be cooked to equal brocoli or cauliflower. Take, for instance, a firm, sweet head, cut it into shreds, lay it in salt and water for six hours; then place it in boiling water until it becomes tender; turn the water off, and add milk. When thoroughly done, take it upon a colander and drain. Now season with butter and pepper, or, if you like, with a glass of wine and a little nutmeg grated over, and you will have a dish fit to eat. What would the German do without his sauer-kraut, or fermented cabbage ? The growth of this vegetable on the continent, specially for making this preparation, is very considerable. In Alsace, cabbages are extensively cultivated, and grow to an enormous size, and a great quantity of chou-croute, or sauer-kraut is made there for export to Strasburg and G-ermany. Every German family stores up, according to its size, one or more large casks of it. October and November are the busy months for the work, and huge white pyramids of cabbage are seen crowding the markets; while in every court and yard into which an accidental peep is obtained, all is bustle and activity in the concocting of this national food; and the baskets piled with shredded cabbage, have been likened to “ mountains of green, tinged with froth or syllabub.” In Wiesbaden, one hundred fine heads of white cabbage, for making sauer-kraut may generally be had in the season for about 3s. The cabbages are cut into shreds with an instrument not unlike a large inverted carpenter’s plane. They are placed in a four-inch layer in a cask; this is strewed with salt, white pepper, and a small quantity of salad oil. A man with clean wooden shoes then gats into the cask and treads the whole together till it is well mixed and compact. Another layer is then added, and so on until the cask is entirely filled. The whole is then subjected to heavy pressure, and allowed to ferment. When the fermentation has subsided, the barrels in which in which it is prepared are closed up, and it is preserved for use. White cabbage, called pih-tsae, and not unlit-re the Roman lettuces, constitutes the principal food of every class in China, and is said to be really delicious. It is generally understood that there is another important commercial use for the cabbage, of which the young smokers of cheap cigars could tell us something. There is a cigar merchant in the Minories, who declares that he had a cabbage so large that lie got two boxes of “ Genuine Havannahs ” out of it, besides two or three dozen penny Pickwicks. He says the cabbage was about the best pull he ever had, for it brought him in £3 15s. 6d., and, if he could have sold the cigars at the West End, he thinks he might have fairly doubled that sum. After the narration of these facts, who shall despise the cabbage ? Even the ninth part of a man will stand upon his bench in its defence. All hail to thee, cabbage ! May its shadow never grow less; and long may it continue to furnish agreeable and nutritious food for man and beast.— English paper.