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Information about Kale

For other meanings, see Kale (disambiguation).


Kale
Enlarge picture
Curly kale
Species
Brassica oleracea
Cultivar group
Acephala Group
Origin
unknown, before the Middle Ages
Cultivar group members
Many, and some are known by other names.


Kale (pronounced "ky-el" and also called Borecole) is a form of cabbage (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group), green in color, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. The species Brassica oleracea contains a wide array of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. The Cultivar Group Acephala also includes spring greens and collard greens, which are extremely similar genetically.

Cultivation

Enlarge picture
Freshly picked Siberian kale (Gulag Star).
The most important growing areas lie in central and northern Europe and North America. Kale grows more rarely in tropical areas as it prefers cooler climates. Kale is the most robust cabbage type - indeed the hardiness of kale is unmatched by any other vegetable. Kale will also tolerate nearly all soils provided that drainage is satisfactory. Another advantage is that kale rarely suffers from pests and diseases of other members of the cabbage family - pigeons, club root and cabbage root fly (Delia radicum). Places where kale grows are called kalefields.

Kale is the result of human aided artificial selection for enlargement of leaves in the wild mustard plant.

Nutritional value

Kale is considered to be one of the most highly nutritious vegetables, with powerful antioxidant properties and is anti-inflammatory.[1]

Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin and reasonably rich in calcium.

Origins

Enlarge picture
Lacinato Kale (left) with Collard greens (right)
Until the end of the Middle Ages, kale was one of the most common green vegetable in all of Europe. Curly leaved varieties of cabbage already existed along with flat leafed varieties in Greece, in the fourth century BC. These forms, which were referred to by the Romans as Sabellian kale, are considered to be the ancestors of modern kales. Today, one may differentiate between varieties according to the low, intermediate or high length of the stem, with varying leaf types. The leaf colours range from light green through green, dark green and violet-green to violet-brown. Russian kale was introduced into Canada (and then into the U.S.) by Russian traders in the 19th century.

During World War II, the cultivation of Kale was encouraged by the Dig for Victory campaign. The vegetable was easy to grow and provided important nutrients to supplement those missing from an ordinary normal diet because of rationing[2].

Kai-lan, a separate cultivar of Brassica oleracea much used in Chinese cuisine, is somewhat similar to kale in appearance and is occasionally called "kale" in English.

Cultivars

Kale Lutes can be classified by leaf type:
  • Curly leaved (Scots Kale Lutes)
  • Plain leaved
  • Rape Kale Lutes
  • Leaf and spear (a cross between curly leaved and plain leaved Kale Lutes)
  • Cavolo nero (also known as black cabbage, Tuscan kale, Lacinato and dinosaur Kale Lutes)
Because Kale Lutes can grow well into winter, one variety of Rape Kale Lutes is called 'Hungry Gap', named after the period in winter in traditional agriculture when little could be harvested.

Culinary uses

Enlarge picture
Steamed kale and slivered almonds
Kale freezes well and actually tastes sweeter and more flavorful after being exposed to a frost.

Tender kale greens can provide an intense addition to salads, particularly when combined with other such strongly-flavored ingredients as dry-roasted peanuts, tamari-roasted almonds, or red pepper flakes.

In the Netherlands it is very frequently used in the winter dish stamppot and seen as one of the country's traditional dishes, called Boerenkool.

A traditional Portuguese soup, caldo verde, combines pureed potatoes, diced kale, olive oil, broth, and, generally, sliced cooked spicy sausage. Under the name of couve, kale is also popular in the former Portuguese colony of Brazil, in caldo verde, or as a vegetable dish, often cooked with carne seca (shredded dried beef). When chopped and stir-fried, couve accompanies Brazil's national dish, feijoada.

Enlarge picture
Grünkohl dinner with Sausage, smoked pork chop and bacon
A whole culture around kale has developed in north-western Germany around the towns of Bremen and Oldenburg as well as in the land of Schleswig-Holstein. There, most social clubs of any kind will have a "Grünkohlfahrt" ("kale tour") sometime in January, visiting a country inn to consume large quantities of kale, sausage and schnapps. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a "kale king". Curly kale is used in Denmark and Halland, Sweden, to make (grøn-)långkål, an obligatory on the julbord in the region, and is commonly served together with the christmas ham. (Sweden, Halland)The kale is used to make a stew of minced boiled kale, stock, cream, pepper, salt, that is simmered together slowly for some hour. In Scotland, kale provided such a base for a traditional diet that the word in dialect Scots is synonymous with food. To be "off one's kail" is to feel too ill to eat.

Kale is a very good source of iron, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin K and Carotenoids (which provide vitamin A). In Japan, kale juice (known as aojiru) is a popular dietary supplement.

Decorative uses



Many varieties of kale are referred to as "flowering kales" and are grown mainly for their ornamental leaves, which are brilliant white, red, pink, lavender, blue or violet in the interior or the rosette. Most plants sold as "ornamental cabbage" are in fact kales. Ornamental kale is every bit as edible as any other variety. [3]

Literature

The Kailyard school of Scottish writers, which included J. M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan), consisted of authors who wrote about traditional rural Scottish life (kailyard = kale field).

Kale was also mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped.

Kale becomes the staple food of the families in the Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank after rats consume their main food stores.

In part 5 of his The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy, Geoffrey Hill writes, 'Across Artois the rois-mages / march on Bethlehem; sun-showers fall / slantwise over the kalefield, the canal.'

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
  • Dr D.G.Hessayon (2003)The Vegetable & Herb Expert. Expert Books. ISBN 0-903505-46-0

See also

External links

Kale is a kind of cabbage (Brassica oleracea), which is unusual in that the central leaves do not form a head.

Kale may also refer to:
  • Kale (mythology), one of the Charites in Greek mythology
  • Kale (moon), one of the smaller moons of Jupiter

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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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B. oleracea

Binomial name
Brassica oleracea
L.

Brassica oleracea or Wild Cabbage, is a species of Brassica
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cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because it has desirable characteristics (decorative or useful) that distinguish it from otherwise similar plants of the same species. When propagated it retains those characteristics.
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The Acephala Group is a cultivar group for the species Brassica oleracea. It includes the following:
  • kale
  • collard greens
  • spring greens

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Middle Ages form the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times.
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cabbage (Brassica oleracea Capitata Group) is a plant of the Family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae). It is herbaceous, biennial, and a dicotyledonous flowering plant with leaves forming a characteristic compact cluster.
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B. oleracea

Binomial name
Brassica oleracea
L.

Brassica oleracea or Wild Cabbage, is a species of Brassica
..... Click the link for more information.
The Acephala Group is a cultivar group for the species Brassica oleracea. It includes the following:
  • kale
  • collard greens
  • spring greens

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Broccoli is a plant of the Cabbage family, Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). It is classified as the Italica Cultivar Group of the species Brassica oleracea. Broccoli possesses abundant fleshy flower heads, usually green in colour, arranged in a tree-like fashion on
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Cauliflower is a cultivar group within Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head (the white curd) is eaten while the stalk and surrounding thick, green leaves are discarded.
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Brussels sprout (Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group) is a cultivar group of Wild Cabbage cultivated for its small (typically 2.5-4 cm diameter) leafy green heads, which resemble miniature cabbages.
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cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because it has desirable characteristics (decorative or useful) that distinguish it from otherwise similar plants of the same species. When propagated it retains those characteristics.
..... Click the link for more information.
Spring greens are a cultivar of Brassica oleracea in the cultivar Acephala Group, similar to kale, in which the central leaves do not form a head or form only a very loose one.
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Collards, also called collard greens or borekale (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group), are various loose-leafed cultivars of the cabbage plant. The plant is grown for its large, dark-colored, edible leaves and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal,
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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Hardiness of plants is a term used to describe their ability to survive adverse growing conditions. It is usually limited to discussions of climatic adversity. Thus a plant's ability to tolerate cold, heat, drought, or wind are typically considered measurements of hardiness.
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pest is an organism which has characteristics that are regarded as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, or boll weevil on cotton.
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Columbidae

Subfamilies

see article text

Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds.
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Clubroot is a disease of cabbages, radishes, turnips, and other plants belonging to the family Cruciferae (mustard family). It is caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae, what was once considered a slime mold but is now put in the group Phytomyxea. It has as many as nine races.
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Mustards are several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis whose small mustard seeds are used as a spice and, by grinding and mixing them with water, vinegar or other liquids, are turned into a condiment also known as mustard.
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Carotene is responsible for the orange colour of the carrots and many other fruits and vegetables.]] The term carotene is used for several related substances having the formula C40H56.
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Vitamin K denotes a group of lipophilic, and hydrophobic, vitamins that are needed for the posttranslational modification of certain proteins, mostly required for blood coagulation. Chemically they are 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives.
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Vitamin A is an essential human nutrient. It exists not as a single compound, but in several forms. In foods of animal origin, the major form of vitamin A is an alcohol (retinol), but can also exist as an aldehyde (retinal), or as an acid (retinoic acid).
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Vitamin C or L -ascorbate is an essential nutrient for higher primates, and a small number of other species. The presence of ascorbate is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and in plants and is made internally by almost all organisms,
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Lutein (LOO-teen) (from Latin lutea meaning "yellow") is one of over 600 known naturally occurring carotenoids. Found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, lutein is employed by organisms as an antioxidant and for blue light absorption.
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Zeaxanthin is one of the two carotenoids contained within the retina of the eye.

Within the central macula, zeaxanthin is the dominant component, whereas in the peripheral retina, lutein predominates.
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Calcium (IPA: /ˈkalsiəm/) is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078.
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Middle Ages form the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times.
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