Various types of cabbage are on the list of modern super foods, yet it is one of the oldest grown crops on earth, both in Asia and Europe. Many varieties were created on those two continents over the centuries. With kale as its frontrunner, multiple types of cabbage are advancing. However, agriculturalists are not quite capable of anticipating hypes, according to Chris Matthijsse from Takii Seed. “It’s a biennial crop. Producing more hybrid seeds takes four years. Two years for the parent lines, and two years for the hybrids.” Marketing a completely new cabbage takes even longer, and could take up to 15 years.
Although cabbage types can vary a lot as regards appearance, they have a common basis. Most cabbage crops originated in one certain place in the world, and then spread over the world through trade and colonisation. The University of Wageningen discovered the secret for the diversity and similarities of the cabbages in the genetics. In cabbage, genes occur not twice, but three times. This triplication has its origin 16 million years ago, in the ancestor of current cabbage types. Agriculturalists are still profiting from that, for it’s possible to select variations of genes for crossbreeds, without losing essential functions, such as the closing of cabbage for storage.
Ode to the cabbage
Cabbage has therefore been an important crop for mankind for centuries. Not just the nutritional value is currently in the spotlight. Various types of cabbage are in the top 10 of healthiest food. Cabbages are also receiving a lot of attention in the culinary field. Creative kale recipes came over from the US: kale smoothies, crisps and even ice cream. The sprout is hitching a ride on the hype as a small vitamin C bomb. Enthusiast and chef Michel van der Kroft from two-star restaurant ’t Nonnetje in Harderwijk, recently showed the many options of sprout recipes, featuring various culinary fireworks. With the help of cook book Kooltje from Pascalle Bonnier and Mathijs Kok, everyone can sing an ode to the cabbage. Bejo recently brought an ode to cabbage as well. Earlier this year, they published a cabbage magazine, especially to enthuse growers and to give new inspiration to grow cabbages. According to Bejo, cabbage is still an important crop globally.
Expanding the cabbage shelf with new products
Syngenta recently launched a new variety on shelves: Frivoletta. These are three similar-looking cabbage crops with different colours. These new cabbage varieties were improved using traditional techniques, by combining sprouts and kale. Syngenta has worked at least 15 years on the development of Frivoletta’s, according to Rik Lootens and Gerard Barendregt. During that time, Syngenta learned, through the introduction of new tomato strains among other things, that acquiring a market position is also a part of product renewal. “For tomatoes, we really looked at the desires of consumers. A nice stream of novelties was created through that. Making a product large is crucial in that, especially if it isn’t available year-round. That’s why we are consciously looking for a partner to help build the market. We cannot take all the steps ourselves.”
Syngenta has already invested in the website www.frivoletta.nl, with recipes to inspire consumers. Breeding stations are in an area of tension. On the one hand, they want to continue improving the lives of growers by creating plants that are resistant, tolerant and mechanically uniform. On the other, there’s demand for product development to get people to eat more vegetables. Investing in that is only profitable if the supply chain is also willing to make a case for that. A product cannot make it without the effort of informing and marketing. That requires a considerable investment in addition to the product development itself, Rik and Gerard explain.
New uses for existing types and varieties
Bejo partially applies itself to product development. They market renewals such as purple sprouting broccoli. However, Bejo is focusing more and more on the sales through new applications of existing types and varieties. Daniëlle Bruin: “We want to put cabbages on the map, and make it trendier. With modernising ideas, packaging and uses, we want to make people look at cabbage differently.” To that end, Bejo developed three concepts. The most successful one is the Coolwrap of the Gunma brand, available in various Dutch and international supermarkets. A flat cabbage, of which the leaves can easily be used as wraps, in sushi, lasagna or as a crunchy part in a sandwich. For that, Bejo, just like Syngenta, developed an informative website, www.coolwrap.eu. Other cabbage concepts are Kohrispy, ready-made kohlrabi sticks in a cup and Léttage. Léttage is an assortment of various types of cabbage with a mildly sweet taste and a loose structure, making it ideal for salads.
Although Bejo has a lot of enthusiasm for the concepts, it’s a long-winded project, according to Joris Ursem. “The improvement programmes for resistant and tolerant strains remain the principal part. It’s important for white cabbage in order to properly store the variety to be resistant against pathogens and thrips. In the end, these are much more important matters than the consumers’ desire, because growers can no longer use many pesticides.”
Cabbages directly from grower to supermarket
Takii Seed also sees the developments towards consumers from the other breeding stations. Chris Matthijse indicates that this is the next step for Takii. “We are currently hitching a ride on the attention generated by Bejo for the flat cabbage. To that end, we have various flavourful varieties with Xanthomonas resistance. It’s an originally Japanese type that we first introduced in 1951 (Chinese Cabbage ‘No 1’ and Cabbage ‘O-S Cross’ (A.A.S. medal winner))”
Takii focuses on both existing varieties and the development of new varieties with its breeding programme. There’s much interest in slightly sweeter oxheart cabbage, which Takii has available as cape horn type with rounded point.They also focus on Savoy cabbage, and they develop varieties with a longer ripening process. Chris is proud of the Takii cabbage, which end up in supermarkets directly from the growers. “That’s mostly in Germany right now, but we also want that in the Netherlands. Our Chinese cabbage, for example, is in all Lidl supermarkets, and the Kabocha pumpkin Sweet Mama in Albert Heijn. But the basis is that we first have to convince the growers of our good varieties. We will start working on the sales and possible marketing of our modernising products for consumers, such as tronchuda Luzia F1 (Portuguese cabbage) which is sold by the Bel’Orta auction, in the not too distant future.”
Continued focus on resistance
It’s the case for all seed producers that most energy and investments continue to focus on improving the varieties. Rijk Zwaan was much involved in the International Licensing Platform Vegetable, in which members give each other access, for a small fee, to patented organic material. “This is a positive development for the sector,” says John Buijsman. He expects that most types of cabbage crops will be resistant to clubroot and Xanthomonas in future. “After the coming ten years, in which more resistance to moulds and bacteria will be introduced, I also expect there will be tolerance for insect damage from thrips, cabbage fly and caterpillars.”
A variety that can already be grown without using too much fungicides is Romanesco Puntoverde, the turret cauliflower. John: “We introduced that five years ago. Although it’s a nice product that can be grown for less, growers won’t produce it when the market isn’t interested. The Romanesco is currently on the Lidl shelves. However, it’s currently available almost year-round, so I expect it will become interesting for other supermarkets to have it on their shelves.”
In addition to seed improvement, Rijk Zwaan has been devoting itself as a sparring partner for growers for the positioning and sales of new products by entering into talks with retailers, cutting plants, food service companies and other supply chain partners when new products arrive on the market. Just like Syngenta, Rijk Zwaan has noticed that it isn’t easy to successfully land a new product on the market. Knowledge acquired by now about the success and fail factors in that field were the base for the Rijk Zwaan Retail Centre. That’s a trial location to test consumer acceptance of new products in an actual retail environment, and will open its doors in Berlin on 3 April.
More information:
Syngenta
Rik Lootens