Cabbage Texas F1 - Brassica oleracea capitata

The Texas F1 Cabbage is a productive, semi-early variety, with late summer harvests. It produces beautiful round heads, shiny green, of excellent quality, weighing 1.8 to 2 kg. Resistant to cold and heat, it offers a long harvesting period from August to October. In light soil with constant moisture, it is a cabbage particularly resistant to Fusarium and Xanthomonas.

The Savoy Cabbage or White Cabbage is a very popular leafy vegetable, it is one of the must-haves in the vegetable garden and if we love it so much, it may be as much for its flavor as for the generous appearance of the heads it forms.

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

The Savoy Cabbage, although emblematic of winter, can be sown and harvested almost all year round. The varieties are generally grouped into three main categories: spring cabbages 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 grated, used in salads, 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 has low energy value, but it is 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.

NB: This variety is labeled F1 for '1 hybrid' because it is a variety resulting from the cross-breeding of carefully selected parents to combine their qualities. This results in a variety that can be particularly tasty and/or early while being resistant to certain diseases. Sometimes criticized or wrongly associated with GMOs, F1 hybrid seeds are interesting both for their uniformity and their resistance, but unfortunately, their qualities are not passed on to the next generations: it will therefore not be possible to collect the seeds for later sowing.

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

Storage: Savoy Cabbage keeps for several days in the refrigerator. It also freezes 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 autumn varieties with white heads.

Gardener's tip: Don't forget the flowers! Even if the vegetable garden is primarily a garden for producing quality vegetables, it is always interesting to plant flowers. Firstly, for the aesthetic pleasure they provide, even if the beauty of certain vegetables like cabbage is sufficient in itself, but also to repel pests and attract valuable pollinators. So, don't hesitate to plant, in the middle of the rows or at the edge of the bed, Gaillardias, Marigolds, Zinnias, Cosmos, Nasturtiums, or even a beautiful aromatic variety like Dill. However, be wary of certain plants, although useful, like Borage, which tends to self-seed abundantly in areas dedicated to cultivation.