It was while I was sitting in my old Adirondack chair under the cherry tree in the front yard a couple of weekends ago, lamenting the fishing trip I’d planned for my two weeks of holidays that was blown out because of all the rain, that I realized how everything in the yard was so green and lush. The grass was, well green for change. The leaves on the trees were every shade of rich, luscious green you could imagine. The only thing in the whole yard that wasn’t green was my garden. The one where I planted nothing but potatoes last year, dug them up and hadn’t quite got around to planting anything at all this year.
Yes, there were a couple of weeds that were green but, in general, the garden was but a 10 by 15-foot brownish-black rectangle that took up a good part of the yard at the side of the house. That was when I started thinking about kale. Actually, I was thinking that I had to go to the organic market to buy some kale to put in a shrimp stir fry for supper.
My point being that I started thinking about my empty garden and kale at the same time. (I suppose I should also mention here that I consider gardening a part of the whole outdoor experience.)
Kale is a dark green, leafy vegetable of the Brassica family that provides many nutrients, including beta carotene, vitamins K and C, lutein and calcium. Not only is kale a nutrient-rich, low-calorie food, it is in its peak season during the winter months when fresh quality green foods can seem impossible to find. Kale is easy to grow and will self-seed once planted, thus providing food year after year with little care and attention. Aspiring “locavores” should note that the purple, silvery-green, frilly, Tuscan and rainbow-hued varieties of kale can be grown year-round in the province of B.C.
Kale can be harvested as a ‘baby green’ in about 30 days, as well as, allowed to grow to full maturity. Kale can be eaten raw in salads (especially the small, tender new shoots and leaves), steamed as a vegetable on its own, mixed into a stir fry, added to soups or mixed into casseroles. It can be served year round.
Historically, the thousand-head variety of kale is the progenitor of all other Brassica oleracea crops, including cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. It is hard to find another vegetable with more nutritional value and historical significance than kale.
Kale, which has even been dubbed a modern ‘superfood’ by many nutritionists, is one of the most nutrient-dense greens in existence and has been grown and harvested for thousands of years. Yet, despite the fact that kale is lauded as a miracle food, most people don’t really know how to prepare it for the table.
In her book, The Book of Kale – The Easy-To-Grow Superfood, Vancouver author Sharon Hanna details more than 80 recipes and ways to prepare and enjoy this leafy vegetable. She describes all sorts of dishes, ranging from simple kale chips to scalloped kale with browned butter and sage.
This garden-to-kitchen guide (which just so happened to be sent to me recently for review) gives readers all the information they’ll ever need to know to grow, harvest, prepare and enjoy this super-sustainable crop.
I read The Book of Kale and subsequently learned a heck of a lot about a plant that, although I’ve been eating it for years, discovered that I did not know anywhere near as much as I thought I knew. I have since sent away to West Coast Seed Company for three different variety of kale seeds.
With a bit of luck, I should have kale growing in my garden until well after the snow comes.
