Origin: Jersey and Guernsey Channel Islands; English & French coastlines.
First advertised for retail sales 1827. First retail offering in North America 1841.
Jersey Cow Cabbage is a very ancient strain of Celtic cabbage. The originating area of JCC are the origin of oleracea. Ancient Gauls and Britons used the large leaves to baken hearth breads in, and JCC is still in use this way, today.
JCC was promtoed as fodder for bovines. It was recommened that 60 JCC's would provide fodder for one cow over the course of 3-4 years. JCC was used for other purposes, before and after it was given it's name.
Leaves, picked from oldest to newest, working upwards (which makes the plant grow taller), are used in traditional cabbage soups and stews, and medicinally for digestion and skin problems (burns, infections and acne). In Victorian times, cabbage was deemed "poverty food" and rejected as such. This predjudice lingers to this day, despite the fact that cabbage contains vital nutrition to the human body.
The rock-hard, stronger than bamboo stalks are dried for 8-10 months, before worked into canes, hiking sticks, etc., like wood. Stalks are often used for vining plant supports, arbors and fences. The original use for these in human hands was as purlins (braces) on thatch-roof houses, instead of timber, which was scarce. An average 2-3 inch JCC stalk can hold 200 lbs. Young, growing plants can be bent and shaped with wide cotton tape, allowing for handles to be grown on canes. 20% shrinkage over the drying period must be expected.
The orginating climate of JCC is mild, cool but never freezing or hot. This is key to success with JCC. Zones lower than 6 will kill this biennial before it gets very tall, and erase the ability to save seed. Zones warmer than 8 often are too hot. Dry, hot climates pose the greatest risks.
In it's lifetime, JCC will grow 4-7 feet in one year of growth. Left alive to grow it's second year, it may reach up to 20 feet tall. In the last bit of the second year, and into the 3rd, JCC will flower and set seed. It can be overwintered, in protective insulating material, or placed in freeze-free garages and sheds, but it's height poses difficultes, as you cannot cut the tall stalks down, if you are going to use the dried poles. For seed saving purposes, you may shorten the stems (see essay on cole crops).

Jersey Cow Cabbage, or Walking Stick Kale is aposter child for multi-purpose garden plants. Edible, medicinal, and yielding material for other uses, this brassica oleracea variety is regaining popularity in home gardens.

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