Of the eleven species of palm trees native to Florida, the sabal palm is by far the most prolific, growing statewide from the Panhandle all the way to the Keys, in nearly every ecosystem along the way. Fittingly, the species has been the state tree of Florida since 1953 and provides a nostalgic treat for Floridians: swamp cabbage.
“Swamp cabbage is the heart or the growing point, called the apical bud, of the sabal palm,” says Taylor Walker, the horticulture manager of Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, a historic botanic garden designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. that opened in 1929. There, on the eighty-five-acre woodland garden and the seven hundred acres of longleaf sandhill pine that the property manages, thousands of sabal palms grow.
The heart of sabal palm has fed Florida for millennia. The Seminole and Calusa ate it. More recently, it became a traditional dish of early settlers and cattle ranchers who became known as Florida cracker cowboys. And it’s always provided a tasty treat for Florida black bears roaming the state.
But its popularity doesn’t mean swamp cabbage is easy to come by, and unfortunately, harvesting the delicacy kills the plant. “Harvesting is labor intensive, for sure,” Walker says. First, the harvester must cut about three feet down from where the leaves emerge from the top—using a chainsaw because the leaf bases, colloquially called boots, are so tough. “Then, you cut that top foot off, where the leaves are closest to you because it’s too fibrous,” Walker says. “And then the bottom piece of that, where it looks more spongey, you cut that off because it’s very bitter.” Once all that is done, the white, desirable portion, marked with concentric circles reminiscent of a leek, remains. All told, a palm will yield about a two-foot block of swamp cabbage, no matter the size of the plant.
After a good wash and slicing, the swamp cabbage is ready for preparation. “Traditionally, it’s braised with tomatoes, onions, and ham hocks, rib meat, or smoked meat,” says Matt Fulwood, the chef at Bok Tower Gardens. “That goes the furthest, feeds the most people, and the swamp cabbage gets nice and tender.” Fulwood has prepared it that way for traditional cracker dinners at Bok Tower, but his personal favorite method is to put the crunchy raw ingredient into a coleslaw to let its nutty flavor shine.
As for the season? Swamp cabbage can be harvested all year long, but its most often associated with festivals and family gatherings in winter and spring. “I used to eat it at sugar cane boils growing up, but now I feel like it’s an ingredient being lost to new generations,” says Erica Smith, Bok Tower’s director of development. “Swamp cabbage isn’t something that you really see at restaurants, but it’s a delight to Floridians that remember eating it.”
Below, find Fulwood’s local-ingredient-packed recipe for swamp cabbage coleslaw.
