Our viands

Cabbage of all kinds is highly nutritious and wholesome, and was prescribed by Hippocrates in cases of colic, but unless cooked fresh it is indigestible, and the smell of the water in which it is boiled is very offensive : this, however, may be obviated by boiling a crust of bread with it. Sauerkraut, which may be looked upon as a German national dish, is made by pressing layers of cabbage and salt in a vessel. An acid fermentation ensues, which is completed in a few days; the vessel is then covered tightly, and the sauerkraut kept for use as required. Spinach as a vegetable is more eaten and esteemed in London than in the provinces, but it has been known for centuries, and was cultivated by the monks as early as 1351. Its name is supposed to denote the country from PULSE AND CABBAGE 237 which it was derived, that is hispanach, or Spanish plant. Two sorts appear in the market, a summer and a winter spinach ; but there is a wild plant known as Good King Henry, which both here and on the Continent is frequently eaten as spinach, which it much resembles, although rather coarser and tougher. It is, however, an excellent substitute, especially in mountainous regions where the cultivated plant is unattainable. Nettles used also to be boiled and eaten in the spring as a substitute for spinach, and are even now sometimes used medicinally by our peasantry. There are two other favourite vegetables which must be mentioned, although they do not belong to the cabbage tribe.' These are asparagus and artichokes, both maritime plants, and both supposed to have come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean, where they grow wild. The wild asparagus is still often served at table in Venice, but it is strong in flavour and less succulent than the cultivated plant. There are two sorts of this delicious vegetable, one pinkish-white and the other green ; the latter is certainly to be preferred, although the pink is earliest in the market, being often forced. It is grown largely in France and the Channel Islands as well as in Cornwall, and is ready for table long before the green variety — which is that chiefly grown in England — can be produced, which is a great advantage, as it prolongs the season of a vegetable almost universally esteemed, but which was formerly unattainable before the middle of April or beginning of May. Some of the asparagus now cultivated is of immense size, but hardly equals that grown by the ancient Romans, of which, according to Pliny, three stalks would weigh a pound. 238 OUR VIANDS Roman cooks dried asparagus, and when wanted threw them into hot water and boiled them for a few minutes, when they became fresh and green. Artichokes, unlike asparagus, have rather declined in public estimation of late years, although they are still largely cultivated on the Continent. The flavour is excellent, but the price at which they are sold renders them unfit for the tables of the people, who scarcely know them, and generally look upon the underground, or Jerusalem arti- choke, as the only plant of the name. Artichokes appear to have been highly esteemed during the reign of Henry VIII., in whose privy purse expenses the following entry occurs : ' Paied to a servant of Maister Tresorer in rewarde for bringing archecokks to the king's grace to Yorke place iiijj. \\\}d.