German cabbage varieties from A-Z

Once again, cabbage has become socially acceptable. Damned on the culinary bench for a long time as a bad-smelling vegetable for the poor, cabbage is now very popular with young and old alike. Cabbage vegetables are rich in vitamins, low in calories and have a hearty taste. For three quarters of the cabbage vegetables in Germany, cultivation is a home game with a correspondingly favorable CO2 balance. Get to know classic and modern types of cabbage from A-Z. These 50 types of cabbage speak German.

Cabbage types and varieties from A - Z

cauliflower

Cabbage, cauliflower (Brassica oleracea convar. botrytis var. botrytis)

Cauliflower deserves a box seat in the vegetable patch. The mighty cabbage is made up of small, white florets, separated by extremely delicate leaves, surrounded by a strong, inedible stalk. Cabbage is considered typically German because it was already popular in cottage gardens in the Middle Ages. Interesting for the home gardener is the ability to form the longed-for inflorescences in the first year, which end up as mild vegetables on the plate. The following selection names historical and modern premium varieties:

• Balak: best medium early winter cauliflower variety
• Neckarperle: historical variety with pure white cabbage flowers and a long harvest time
• Erfurt dwarf: early ripening variety with a harvest time from July
• Graffiti: modern with bright purple heads and a fine taste
• Autumn giants: classic with huge, white flowers
• Leceref: traditional cauliflower for summer cultivation

As a heavy eater, cauliflower wants nutrient-rich, fresh to moist soil. A sunny, warm location promotes growth and crop yield.

Kale

Brown cabbage, kale (Brassica oleracea convar. acephala var. sabellica)

Kale becomes a culinary highlight when it is harvested after the first frost. A long ripening period and freezing cold for at least one night are required for the starch in the lush green, curly leaves to turn into sugar. Those who like to eat classic and sweet and aromatic should therefore be patient until the popular winter vegetables are harvested. The hearty cabbage vegetables are traditionally served with potatoes, smoked pork or bratwurst. But kale has long since arrived in the modern kitchen, so there are now also kale chips or smoothies with kale. Kale is one of the species that are botanically closely related to wild cabbage and not a typical head of cabbage form. The delicious winter vegetables have been native to Germany since the 16th Century, so that home gardeners can fall back on a wide range of varieties, as the following list documents:

• Altmärker brown cabbage: green-brown-purple kale, popular historical varieties
• Half-height green curl: classic with broad, strongly curled leaves
• Holter Palme: long-established, East Frisian local variety, newly discovered for kale cultivation
• Lark tongues: long, slender curly leaves, half-height and well hardy with a long harvest time
• Low green Krauser: new in the variety selection for cultivation in the tub
• Scarlet: palm-like, dark green, later deep red leaves, modern and trendy
• Kale, East Frisian palm: lover's variety with dark green, coarse-leaved leaves

The heavily consuming cabbage vegetables want a sunny to partially shaded location. The perfect framework conditions are provided by a nutrient-rich, humus-rich and calcareous soil with a pH value of 5.5 to 7.5.

Kohlrabi

Beetroot (Brassica oleraceae var. gongylodes)

At first glance, kohlrabi cannot be identified as a cabbage vegetable, because the rounded tuber has little in common with typical cabbage. In fact, neither flowers nor leaves are suitable for consumption. It is the above-ground, thickened main stem to which we owe the delicately melting taste of kohlrabi vegetables. The name stem turnip is therefore common in southern Germany. However, the color is not limited to classic white. Because depending on the variety, kohlrabi finds its way onto the menu in light green, purple or blue-red:

• Blaro: blue bulbous, modern and bulletproof
• Blauer Speck: a historical rarity rediscovered for private cultivation
• Express Forcer: sounds international, but is German, fast growing and ready to harvest from August
• Lanro: Premium variety for growing in the greenhouse and under foil from February
• Olivia: light green to white organic kohlrabi with the best properties for the natural home garden
• Superschmelz: popular, white classic with a delicately melting taste

Home gardeners reserve a sunny, not too hot spot for kohlrabi in the vegetable patch. The cabbage species thrives as a middle eater in any good garden soil. Regular fertilization with compost and horn shavings optimizes the harvest yield.

Brussels sprouts

Sprout cabbage (Brassica oleraceae var. gemmifera)

Brussels sprouts are comparatively new for a cabbage vegetable, because the first varieties were grown less than 100 years ago. The delicious florets thrive on long stems and are individually harvested by hand. Incidentally, this cabbage is one of the types that need temperatures around freezing point to develop their unmistakable taste. For the perfect preparation, the tiny cabbage heads are briefly blanched in salted water, because the florets should be served firm to the bite. The following varieties are domestic and popular:

• Blue kale: old-established variety with blue-violet florets
• Crispus: early maturing, bolt-resistant, resistant to Kohl's hernia
• Diabolo: the devil among the Brussels sprouts with a harvest time from September to February
• Groninger: vigorous sprouts for harvest at the beginning of winter
• Hild's ideal: large, firm florets, ready for harvest before the first frost
• Nelson: firm, high-sugar variety for harvest in September and October
• Roodnerf: late variety for winter harvest

Brussels sprouts find the ideal site conditions in a sunny location with loamy garden soil. A pH value of 6.0 to 7.5 and an airy plant spacing of 45 to 60 centimeters promote vitality and prevent diseases. When growing Brussels sprouts and all other types of cabbage, it is important to keep crops rotated to prevent cabbage hernia.

Red cabbage

Red cabbage, red cabbage, blue cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. rubra)

The red-headed icon among the local vegetable types is one of the most popular Winter vegetables. Only with red cabbage are hearty meat dishes such as roast goose, game goulash or sauerbraten a culinary delight. The home gardener has therefore reserved a regular place for the little brother of white cabbage in the kitchen garden. The blue-violet leaves are tasty when cooked, cooked, steamed or just as fresh as a salad. Red cabbage has been at home in Germany since the earliest beginnings of vegetable growing. The following selection of varieties may help you find your personal favorite red cabbage:

• Amaranth: medium-sized variety ripening early, ready for harvest from mid-June
• Garnet: fast growing, classically proven variety, ideal for regions with a short growing season
• Autumn red: traditional red cabbage from the farm and monastery gardens of the Middle Ages
• Marner Lagerrot: old-established red cabbage with excellent shelf life
• Tinty: modern variety with pointed, red heads and 300 to 1000 grams, ideal for the small garden

Red cabbage unfolds its optimum in the sunny spot in the vegetable garden with fresh earth. Ideally, the bed is enriched with compost or green manure in the autumn of the previous year in order to offer the heavy user the best starting conditions.

White cabbage

White cabbage, kappes (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. alba)

White cabbage is mainly processed into sauerkraut and serves as the basic ingredient of our national dish "Eisbein with Sauerkraut". Since the 12th In the 19th century, sauerkraut turned out to be tastier Vitamin supplier useful and can still be found today on all menus for home-style cooking. Freshly prepared, white cabbage also invigorates the senses as a salad or vegetables. The huge growing areas in northern Germany, where almost 80 million heads of cabbage (white cabbage, red cabbage and savoy cabbage) are harvested annually, testify to its popularity.

It thrives in the fertile Fildern plain near Stuttgart cabbage, the finer variant of white cabbage with more tender leaves and an equally milder taste. The following list presents you with well-known white and pointed cabbage varieties:

• Brunswijyker: popular autumn white cabbage, flat-round heads, best processing quality
• Dithmarscher white cabbage: earliest variety, firm, juicy green heads
• Filderkraut: Swabian specialty, ideal for preparing cabbage rolls
• Marner Lagerweiss: tried and tested white cabbage that stays green for a long time
• Premstättner pattern: lover varieties from the seed archive of Noah's Ark, high round, firm head

In the vegetable garden, white cabbage thrives in all its glory in a sunny location with nutritious, fresh, moist soil. Organic fertilizers, such as compost or bark humus, completely cover the high nutrient requirements. Showering over the floor with nettle manure also effectively prevents infestation by cabbage whites. White cabbage is one of the types of cabbage that are less prone to the dreaded cabbage hernia.

savoy

(Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. sabauda)

Savoy cabbage is one of the Head cabbage, the Vegetable of the Year 2006, and is closely related to white and red cabbage. Home gardeners with a weakness for nature-loving, regionally influenced home-style cooking integrate the cabbage triumvirate into the planting plan for the vegetable garden. Because even in the bed, savoy cabbage is an ornament with its loose, round and decoratively curled heads. Cabbage lovers have the choice between stately autumn and winter varieties with the pronounced cabbage taste, which can be used to conjure up spicy stews and stews. However, friends of mild, delicate cuisine tend to opt for early, light green savory varieties.

• Alaska: top variety with medium-sized heads, best winter savory for private cultivation
• Goldvital: yellow-green, tender butter cabbage, long time window for the harvest from July to October
• Resulta: classic, medium-sized, fresh green to dark green, improvement of the old-established Bamberg Wirsings
• Harbinger 3: earliest savoy cabbage variety, can be sown at the end of March and harvested from July
• Vertus 2: Top variety for savory savoy cabbage with a harvest time from September
• Western: organic variety for the late harvest from September until well into winter
• Wirosa F1: proven in private and commercial savoy cabbage cultivation, dark green, finely curled heads of cabbage

Home gardeners bring in a rich savoy cabbage harvest when the cabbage vegetables are planted in a sunny, nutrient-rich location. A preculture with onions and leeks naturally prevents an infection with clubheads.

Wild cabbage

Vegetable Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)

The progenitor of native cabbage species should not be missing in this selection. In Germany, wild cabbage is only native to Heligoland, because the primitive cabbage vegetables favor an oceanic coastal climate. His middle name Cliff cabbage refers to this location preference. The cultivated forms of wild cabbage, the German varieties of which can also be found in this list, are suitable for the human palate. The cultivation of the pure wild species is particularly interesting for home gardeners who keep small animals. Because forage cabbage, also known as Westphalian furrow cabbage, thrives as a hardy and leafy cattle fodder plant. Thanks to a robust frost resistance of up to -15 ° C, high-stemmed wild cabbage can be picked throughout the winter.