The Herbarium
Part IV · Fruit & vegetable
Herb. No. 193
Cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Brassicaceae
The headed brassica of winter tables — a fermented folklore as much as a boiled one.
Kitchen head. The same species as kale, broccoli, and cauliflower — different habits, same family heat.
- Parts used
- Head · Outer leaf
- Traditional notes
- Kitchen green · Ferment · Traditional winter staple
- Grow · USDA 6b
- Cool-season biennial, USDA 1–9 as a heading crop Start indoors or buy plants. A summer sowing for fall heads. In work: Mar · Apr · May · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
- Harvest
- When the head is tight. A split head after rain is still soup.
- Net against cabbage white butterflies.
- A frost sweetens. A heat wave splits.
Safety
Known brassica allergy (rare) A cabbage poultice as a substitute for mastitis care
Companions
Plant with Broccoli, Chamomile, Cornflower, Dill, French marigold, Garden sage.
Keep apart from Strawberry, Tomato.
Lore
Cato the Elder swore cabbage would fix Rome. It did not. Captain Cook carried sauerkraut against scurvy and it actually helped, because fermentation keeps vitamin C when a long boil would not. The Irish bacon-and-cabbage plate and Korean kimchi are the same species in two winters.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.