Object: Cabbage - Brassica oleracea

Image Credits

17th Century Plant Diversity, from Environmental History of the Hudson Valley, 2011 Joel Grossman PhD.

Object Type(s)
Description

White cabbage, a brassica, is one of the plants most likely grown by the Dutch in New Netherland.    Cole slaw, an old Dutch recipe that includes cabbage,  remains a favorite food in the Northeast, as this plant preferred cool weather, and resists spoiling. 

The 17th century layer of archeological digs in lower Manhattan turned up many brassica seeds.

See a detailed article on the archeology of plant life in New Amsterdam by Joel Grossman, PhD. here.  Courtesy of the Holland Society of New York.  

For more reading about plants, see Joel Grossman's work:  https://www.geospatialarchaeology.com/Indices.pdf and the attached article courtesy of the Holland Society of New York and the publishers of de Halve Maen

See Peter Rose's book on historic cooking for a great cole slaw recipe: http://www.peterrose.com/books.html