Cabbage Enkhuizen Glory organic seeds - Brassica oleracea

The 'Enkhuizen Glory' White Cabbage is a traditional white cabbage, prized for its large, tight heads, its rapid growth and its abundant harvest in late summer and autumn. This non-hybrid, organic variety is particularly well-suited for making sauerkraut and recipes for fermented or braised cabbage. It is very hardy and easy to cultivate in many regions.

Botanically, the 'Enkhuizen Glory' cabbage belongs to the species Brassica oleracea var. capitata, of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers or Brussels sprouts. Among cabbages or headed cabbages, the type with smooth leaves and a white head is simply called white cabbage.
The 'Roem van Enkhuizen' cabbage is a heritage variety, well-documented in European catalogues and gene banks. It is found under the names Ruhm von Enkhuizen (in German), Glory of Enkhuizen (in English), as well as in closely related selections noted as Roem van Enkhuizen 2 and Roem van Enkhuizen 3. This line was developed in the late 19th century in Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, by the seed company Sluis & Groot, from German cabbage, to obtain a productive autumn cabbage, with good storage qualities and suited to the sauerkraut market.
It is a biennial plant cultivated as an annual for its head: in the first year, it forms a tight rosette of leaves that curl into a head; in the second year (if left in place), a flower stem of 1 m or more, bearing clusters of small yellow flowers with four petals, mainly pollinated by insects (especially bees). 'Enkhuizen Glory' develops a rosette 30 to 60 cm high and wide, and a well-rounded, dense head, usually light green on the outside and pale yellow at the heart. It weighs around 2–3 kg under good conditions. It takes 4 to 5 months from sowing to harvest. The foliage is smooth, bluish-green, with outer leaves more spreading and inner leaves strongly incurved and overlapping to form the head.
Enkhuizen-type varieties accompanied the development of "modern" sauerkraut in Northern Europe; chosen for their richness in vitamin C and good transportability, they helped make this preservation method popular far beyond the producing regions.

The Headed Cabbage is a very popular leafy vegetable, it is one of the essentials in the kitchen garden and if we love it as much for its flavour as for the generous appearance of the heads it forms.

In the kitchen garden, the 'Enkhuizen Glory' Organic Cabbage finds its place in vegetable gardens, large family plots or beds dedicated to storage crops. You can plant it with carrot varieties like ‘Touchon’, a leek 'Giant Winter' or a celeriac ‘Ibis’, which occupy the lower levels of the kitchen garden. You can also surround it with flowers useful for wildlife (marigold, phacelia, cosmos) or aromatic herbs (dill, thyme, sage), which attract beneficial insects and confuse the trail of cabbage pests. In the kitchen garden, you can alternate a few varieties of red cabbage or Savoy cabbage.

From a dietary point of view, cabbage is remarkable: its energy value is low, but it is very rich in vitamins C, B6 and B9, it also contains a lot of fibre and minerals like calcium.

In the Kitchen Garden, it is easy to grow as long as you meet its requirements: deep soil, excellent manuring and regular moisture. Plant it in the sun and it generally thrives in a cool, rainy climate.

Harvest: When the Cabbage forms a nice head and before the leaves start to yellow, harvest with a knife by simply cutting just below the head.

Storage: Headed Cabbage keeps for several days in the refrigerator. It will also freeze very well after being blanched in salted boiling water. Winter varieties can also be left in the ground. Finally, making sauerkraut (lacto-fermentation) will tastily preserve autumn white-headed varieties.

Organic seeds come from plants cultivated according to the principles of organic farming, without synthetic chemical fertilisers or synthetic pesticidal products, and without GMOs. The seed batches are controlled and certified by an independent body.