I had to lead with this classic image! When I was a little kid, I remember being told by my parents that I was found under a cabbage leaf. It didn't seem likely.
Varieties thought best in 1833 were
Early Dwarf, Early York, Vanack, Battersea Early Imperial, and Red Dutch. Horticultural register, Volume 2 The same varieties were still recommended a decade later for cottage gardens. "With spring planted crops a mazagan bean may be sown alternately with every cabbage plant in the same row."
Mazagan bean?
What's that??
I am including the following as I like knowing the names, and who sold them. I find "Marblehead" a fun play on words.
I am an enthusiastic reader of the Patrick
O'Brian series about the English navy in the times of the Napoleonic War. Scurvy was always an issue, and in one book they were very happy to land on an island that had a type of wild cabbage.
Life at Sea During the Age of Captain Cook
One of Cook’s most important discoveries during his voyages was actually about food. Cook realized that there were certain foods that, if eaten, prevented the disease called scurvy. Scurvy, we know today, is caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. Scurvy was common among sailors, because most vitamin C comes from fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables were very difficult to keep fresh during long sea voyages in the days before refrigeration. So, sailors before Cook’s time ate a diet that was mostly dried, hard bread known as hard tack, and dried, salted meat.
Cook took two major steps to change the diet of his crew. First, every time the ships stopped anywhere that grew fresh fruit and vegetables, he bought some to feed to the crew. However, because there were sometimes weeks between stops, and fruit and vegetables would rot in that time, he had to have another plan. He knew that sauerkraut, which is pickled cabbage, had been shown to prevent scurvy. Sauerkraut, because it is pickled, can be kept in jars, and will not go bad. Cook brought a lot of sauerkraut on his voyage – but the crew didn’t want to eat it at first.
Captain Cook played a very interesting trick on his crew. When he realized that the men were refusing to eat the sauerkraut, he took it away from them. He said only the officers could eat it, and only put it out on the officers’ tables. Telling the crew they couldn’t have it made them want it more – so they started eating it!
Cook’s crew was out to sea for a longer period of time than any sailors before them. And yet, not one of Cook’s sailors died of scurvy. This means that Cook proved that certain foods could prevent scurvy, and smart sea captains after him followed his example and took sauerkraut, fruit, and vegetables on their voyages.
Alaska
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