Cabbage Cœur de Bœuf Moyen de la Halle - Brassica oleracea capitata

The Medium-sized Oxheart Cabbage is an early variety that produces a large head (average 1.5 kg), conical and dense. This cabbage is very productive, hardy and fast-growing. A reliable choice. It can be sown under cover from August to September or on a bed from February to April for a harvest from April to July.

The Savoy Cabbage or White Cabbage is a very popular leafy vegetable, it is one of the essentials in the vegetable garden and if we love it so much, it's perhaps as much for its flavor as for the generous size of the heads it forms.

Indiscriminately called White Cabbage or Savoy Cabbage (in Latin Brassica oleracea capitata, capitata meaning "head"), this beautiful vegetable plant belongs to the large Brassicaceae family (formerly Cruciferae). Native to Europe, it is a biennial plant cultivated as an annual that produces a more or less compact head, which can be round, slightly flattened or sharply conical in pointed varieties. The leaves of Savoy Cabbage are smooth and their color varies depending on the variety: from very light green, almost white, to dark green sometimes slightly bluish, to red tinged with violet or almost black.

Cabbage, although emblematic of winter, can be sown and harvested almost all year round. Varieties are generally grouped into three main categories: spring cabbages, which are harvested from late April to June, summer and autumn cabbages for the period from July, and winter cabbages, which, along with leeks and parsnips, allow us to wait until the first spring harvests.

Savoy Cabbage can be eaten raw or cooked, it can be prepared grated in a salad, braised to accompany meat and fish dishes, stuffed or even used in soups and sauerkraut. There is no shortage of recipes, both in traditional and modern cuisine.

From a dietary point of view, it is remarkable: it is low in calories but very rich in vitamins C, B6 and B9, and also contains a lot of fiber and minerals such as calcium.

In the vegetable garden, it is an easy vegetable to grow as long as you meet its requirements: deep soil, excellent fertilization, and regular moisture. It thrives in the sun and generally does well in cool and rainy climates.

Harvest: it is done when the cabbage forms a nice head and before the leaves start to turn yellow. It is harvested with a knife, simply by cutting just below the head.

Storage: Savoy Cabbage can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. It can also be frozen very well after being blanched in salted boiling water. Winter varieties can also be left in the ground. Finally, the preparation of sauerkraut (lacto-fermentation) allows the delicious preservation of white-headed autumn varieties.

The gardener's tip: Don't forget the flowers! Even though the vegetable garden is primarily a garden for producing quality vegetables, it is always interesting to plant flowers in it. Firstly, for the aesthetic pleasure they provide, but also to repel pests and attract valuable pollinators. So, don't hesitate to plant, in the middle of the rows or along the edges, Gaillardias, Marigolds, Zinnias, Cosmos, Nasturtiums or even beautiful herbs like Dill. However, be cautious of some plants, although useful, such as Borage, which tends to self-seed abundantly in spaces dedicated to cultivation.