Last week’s “Historian” noted that cabbage, often eaten in the form of sauerkraut, was undoubtedly the primary vegetable crop cultivated by the early Germanic immigrants of this area. Theophile Cazenove, an agent for French real estate interests, traveled across Berks County in 1794 and recorded in his journal that the farmers in the “Cootstown” (Kutztown) area, “Have a few gardens at least for cabbage and carrots and they all have beehives.”
One advantage of cabbage, carrots and the other root crops is that they can be kept into the winter. In the days before home canning, drying some vegetable crops was the only way of preserving them for winter use, but cabbage and some root crops could be kept for months buried in the garden or in the cave (root cellar). And of course there was sauerkraut, the fermented cabbage dish so loved by the Germans.
Most Pennsylvania Germans considered sauerkraut a great delicacy, and the Muhlenberg family was no exception. Reverend Muhlenberg, you may remember, was the first ordained minister to serve the New Hanover congregation. While Pastor Muhlenberg and his family were visiting the Lutheran congregation in Charleston, South Carolina in 1774, one of his Philadelphia friends sent him a package with some sauerkraut. Muhlenberg considered the sauerkraut like a “gift of costly medicine… The whole family derived great sensual gratification from it, and I cannot deny that I shared in it.”
So important was cabbage in the early days that it was occasionally stipulated in estate inventories and wills. Farmers sometimes bequeathed their widow a place to grow cabbage in the “Cappetch Garden.” Farm gardens were normally square and composed of four equal-sized square beds. Widows were sometimes given one bed or “one fourth of the Kawitsh Garden.” The “Kawitsh Garden” was usually too large for the kitchen garden and was a separate cultivation.
Researcher Alan Keyser notes, “At times, wills specified the number of heads of cabbage the widow should be given by the new owner of her farm or allowed to grow where she had been granted a life right. The number ranged from 25 to 75 heads per year. At first glance, this seems like a lot of cabbage for a widow, but it breaks down to a range of one half head to just under one-and-a-half heads per week. Most was turned into sauerkraut. The rest was preserved by burying it in the garden and eaten fresh boiled.”
An estate inventory taken Nov. 1, 1785 in Towamencin Township mentions “Cabich in the garden.” At that late date, most likely it was buried and covered there for the winter.
In addition to sauerkraut, cabbage was eaten in a variety of other dishes. It was also eaten raw as a salad. On Dec. 13, 1783, one of Henrich Muhlenberg’s neighbors brought them “several heads of cabbage for salad.” More often, though, it was served cooked.
Traveler Anne Royall requested a special dish, “fried cabbage,” be prepared for her while she was visiting the Moravian settlement at Nazareth in the late 1820s, and the cook prepared and served it in an individual dish next to her place at the table.
Local food researcher Nancy Roan says of fried cabbage, “It’s very good. As a matter of fact, we had it last night. I prepare it the same way my mother did. You heat a little lard in a frying pan and put shredded cabbage in there with a little water. Stir it until it browns. You eat it with a little vinegar poured on.”
Of stewed cabbage, the Elizabeth Hiester Cookery Book notes, “Boil your cabbage ’till it is done enough (cut it in four quarters), take it out and drain it in a cullender, take some butter and throw it into the pot, with some flour stir’d in it after the water is out; season it with peper and salt, stew it a few moments in the liquor.” Alan Keyser writes, “This dish was pretty much the one-dish meatless meal known as Weisgraut. It was one of the old time dishes that likely was part of the pre-Pennsylvania cuisine. When asked what this dish was, one woman said, ‘Sure I know what Weisgraut is. It is the poor man’s dinner. Plain and simple boiled cabbage with diced potatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Butter and lard added. Gute esse (good eating).’ Diced potatoes were an American addition.”
But sauerkraut was the main cabbage dish with pork or salt pork frequently cooked with it. There was the belief that the sour cabbage would “cut the grease” of the pork and aid digestion. Mashed potatoes often accompanied the meal with apple butter on the bread.
In his 1767 almanac, Christopher Saur writes of one of the negatives of eating cabbage. “Over all, cabbage is a very healthful food, but some who are bothered with gas will not receive it well.” He also said, “Some eat several leaves of cabbage raw with salt and vinegar as a protection against drunkenness.” He continues, “If one has exceeded the limit with wine, and eats a meal of sauerkraut, he will be restored to health.”
The Historian is produced by the New Hanover Historical Society. Call Robert Wood at 610-326-4165 with comments.
