Of Cabbages & Kings - Mostly Cabbages Though

St. Patrick's Day is nearly upon us. Last year, Saucyman explained how beef gets itself corned, this year the spotlight shines on the cabbage.

For the last few millennia, cabbage has not been particularly esteemed in the Western world. This brassica, believed to be the progenitor of so many cultivated plants from cauliflower to Brussels sprouts, has lost some luster. The Egyptians,Greeks and Romans all revered this humble veg. The Egyptians going as far to use the plant in religious ceremony; while the Greeks & Romans thought the cabbage promoted good health and even protected against drunkenness. The latter is false but modern science has discovered the oxygenating quality that comes from the B vitamins stored in the plant does help ameliorate the effects of over-indulgence but all the cabbage in the world will not help anyone pass a Breathalyzer.

The cabbage of the Ramseses (I & II at least; possibly there were more of them), Aristotle and Caesar was visually (& possibly chemically) different from the modern one. Ancient cabbage would have looked more like modern kale - green leaves growing off of a central stalk. Wild cabbages with this formation can still be found growing around the Mediterranean. The contemporary 'drumhead' varieties were not mentioned until the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder wrote about this new cultivar, but most likely this was hearsay, the budded cabbage was a regional variety grown in Northern Europe - It wasn't until the Middle Ages that the leafy green cabbage had been replaced by the more familiarly shaped one.

By this time the cabbage had fallen out of favor - being thought of as little more than fodder either for peasants or livestock - when the gentry bothered to differentiate between the two. This could be because as cabbage evolved, it got stinkier. Beekeepers keep hives away from cabbage fields, vintners will not plant it near their vines -this might be superstition, wrapped in custom inside a prejudice but cabbage's one-two punch of sulfur and mustard oils (isothiocyanates)are a pretty heady combo. Whether the current cabbage is actually more pungent than its forefather is one for academic speculation but seeing how kale is less pronounced, that supposition does make sense. For the modern kitchen, cabbages are at their mildest in the cool months before they convert their starches to sugar. Which means, for all the obvious jokes about Irish cuisine and the inherent lack of it, boiling last autumn's cabbage in water to dissipate the the strong taste is actually being quite knowledgeable about ingredients and how to cook them.

Just as there a rush on avocados in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, the cabbage enjoys a similar turn in the produce spotlight - Around St. Paddy's Day recipes are featured in newspapers, grocers advertise its existence and in the new media bloggers blog about it - Guilty, but next year's holiday there is Guinness, green beer, the potato or whisky to choose from. Or if the customs of the day ever change from binge drinking and boiling stuff, Saucyman will be either to cover it for you.