The Best Kales

Start this cold-hardy crop now for sweet soups and salads this winter.

by John Navazio

Count kale as one of the true treasures of the fall garden, with its sweetness revealed only after old Jack Frost has kissed its leaves a time or two. This ultra-cold-hardy, leafy green vegetable is a reliable deeply satisfying addition to any cool-weather garden. Some types have tender leaves perfect for salads. Some are great steamed or in stews, and some are so hardy you can harvest them even in the dead of winter almost everywhere. And, they're beautiful, too.

Many of the folks who buy their produce in season from local farmers have learned to love this unusual, old-fashioned fall and winter vegetable — even though they may not have grown up eating it. Kale is a little-known relative of broccoli and cabbage, with a taste that appeals to both adults and children. During my years as a kale lover, I've run into a number of kale-eating families with young children who relish the vegetable steamed and served simply with butter or perhaps vinegar, with salt and pepper to taste. Deb Kaldahl of the Abundant Life Seed Foundation in Pots Townsend, Washington, says steamed kale is one of the few cooked vegetables her children will eat.

An elite member of a highly nutritious family of foods called the "dark-green leafy vegetables," kale is kin to broccoli and collards, which are its closest relatives; spinach: Swiss chard; and beet, mustard and turnip greens. All are good sources of vitamin K, the B-vitamin folic acid, and betas carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the liver. Darkgreen leafy vegetables also are exceptionally. high in other carotenoids, including zeaxanthin and lutein, which are powerful antioxidants that protect us from degenerative illnesses like cancer, cardio-vascular disease and age-related macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness among the elderly).

For years, kale also has been touted as one of the best vegetable sources of calcium — which is especially important for vegans and others who don't consume dairy products. The newest research on calcium's role in human nutrition sheds even snore light of how important kale, collards and broccoli can he: It shows that, in order for the body to assimilate dietary calcium, magnesium also must be present in a meal. Dairy products are rich in calcium but have relatively little magnesium kale and its relatives have substantial amounts of both nutrients.

THE TALE OF TWO KALES

Kale thrives in cold weather and has a venerable history of nourishing people in the cold, dark months of the year, when few other green vegetables are to be had. The most common kale, the so-called Scotch or Scotch Curled (Brassica oleracea, Acephala group), is a primitive cabbage.

The other kind of kale, the Siberian or Napus type (Brassica napus) , actually is more closely related to rutabagas. With its tender leaves, it has become popular in recent years as an ingredient in many of the imaginative salad mixes being grown by home gardeners and market farmers. Thanks to the introduction of new colors and forms in the last few years, an excellent selection of both the Scotch Curled and Napus types are available commercially.

Kale is most often grown north of the Mason-Dixon Line; Scotch kale's botanical sister, collards, fills the same dietary niche in the South. This is due, in part, to the fact that collards taste better than kale in warm Southern summers. In fact, both greens benefit from cold temperatures that turn starches to sugars in their stems and leaves; with kale, the kind of cold that seems to really transport it from mediocre to divine is several nights of 20-degree temperatures. That means it can be a great winter crop for the South, where a few frosty nights can bring out its flavor peak by midwinter.

Over the years I've heard many claims as to just how cold hardy kale can be. To find out which kale could best stand up to the vagaries of short fall days and cold conditions, I enlisted the help of several kale connoisseurs from across the country: gardener and photographer David Cavagnaro in Decorah, Iowa; plant breeder and seed grower Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed in Philomath, Oregon; and Micaela Colley, farm manager at Seeds of Change in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We also had a test site for a cold showdown in Maine, where kale often can be counted on until Christmas, but an early, very cold fall laid the crop to waste before we could get any results.

To find which varieties we could rely on for flavor, productivity and cold-hardiness in our respective parts of the country, we selected eight to test — five Scotch Curled and three Napus types, all held in high regard by kale lovers. The Scotch Curled types included a couple of reliable old workhorses, 'Vates Blue' (sometimes listed as 'Dwarf Blue Vates') and 'Winterbor,' as well as two varieties relatively new to the U.S. gardening scene: the striking, bright-red 'Redbor' hybrid and the Italian heirloom 'Lacinato' For 'Lacinato' (sometimes called black kale because the leaves are such a dark green), we used an Americanized selection and its Italian counterpart, 'Nero Di Toscana.' From the Napus group, we tried the beautiful 'White Russian,' 'Red Ursa' and the feisty, cold-hardy 'Winter Red,' which was reported to be more resistant to cold than its progenitor, 'Russian Red.'

RESULTS OF THE TRIALS

Recognizing that kale's flavor doesn't really develop until the first fall cold snap, many experienced growers wait until July to sow the seeds in flats for late July transplanting to the field or garden. We had ours planted out by July 10, and by late September, all three plots were producing enough for the testers to start harvesting, assessing and enjoying.

By this time of year, testers could tell why the Scotch Curled types retain such a loyal following. As a cooked vegetable alone or in soups and stews, this kale offers a sweet, full-bodied flavor. Cavagnaro, an independent spirit, stood alone in his disdain for the Scotch Curled kales. "I don't like working with the `'potscrubber' kales in the kitchen," he says. "I like the broader, smoother leaves of the Russian or Napus types." (He is, however, fond of Scotch Curled kale when it's transformed into "Krispy Kale," a snack created by Kim Blanchard of Rock Spring Farm in Highlandville, Iowa. Here's how to make it: Stem one bunch fresh kale and chop into 2-inch pieces. Toss with olive oil and salt, and place on a jellyroll pan. Crisp in a 375-degree oven for about 10 minutes. We tried it here at MOTHER and it was delicious!)

In keeping with their identity as salad greens, the Napus types were faster growing and more robust than the Scotch Curled types, which grew more slowly and deliberately. For vigor and ability to produce a steady harvest, the Napus variety `White Russian' was tops, followed by another Napus, `Winter Red.'

The third variety to really shine in terms of productivity, though, was the Scotch Curled type Winterbor,' which even edged out `White Russian' and `Winter Red' in the harsh mountain climate at the Seeds of Change farm. Also showing respectable yields in this category was 'Lacinato,' which did significantly better than its Italian look-alike, 'Nero Di Toscana.' `Vates' also had a good showing for yield.

In the end, cold temperatures proved the great equalizer between the two types of kale. In Oregon, for example, a sudden, unusually frigid blast of cold, dry weather sent temperatures plummeting on three consecutive nights to 24, then 20 and 15 degrees — the coldest readings all winter. "That definitely hurt the Napus types here," says Morton, who watched as the 'Red Ursa' and then the `Winter Red' got pretty badly beaten up. His `White Russian' only sustained moderate damage; the Winterbor' and especially the `Vates' held their own.

At Cavagnaro's in Iowa, two weeks of cold, mid-November nights with temperatures dipping into the teens seriously damaged his kales by Thanksgiving Day, when the morning low hit 14 degrees. 'Vates' was the clear winner with the least amount of frost damage, while Winterbor' came in a close second. A big surprise un der these conditions was how well `White Russian' held up, still retaining a number of its youngest leaves in a harvestable state despite the cold.

Colley's New Mexico plots, with cold, dry winter weather at 5,000 feet in the Rockies, yielded similar results, with `Vates,' Winterbor' and `White Russian' topping the field. According to Colley, `Vates' is the most reliable variety for living straight through the winter in New Mexico. In all three locations, 'Lacinato proved significantly more cold-hardy than 'Nero Di Toscana.'

FLAVOR'S THE THING

When it comes to kale flavor, which should be sweet and robust, folks who know their kales are quite passionate about their favorites. Anyone who has had the good fortune of dining on high quality, cold-weather kale from market farmers probably has tasted `Winterbor,' the standard for 20 years. It is so delicious, it sets the bar.

`Vates,' in our taste tests, seems quite comparable to `Winterbor,' but `Redbor,' despite its brilliant red color and market appeal, fell sadly short.

The best bet for improving kale's popularity among those yet unacquainted with its charms appears to be 'Lacinato,' however. Morton (shown in photo at right), with his years of experience growing and selling kales, says of this old Italian variety now gaining popularity in the United States, "It is not the most productive, the most cold hardy or the most uniform, but 'Lacinato' is the most sought-after by customers— and by the farm crew, too."

If you want kale for cool-weather salads, try the beautiful `White Russian' (available from seed sources 1 and 7, at right) or `Winter Red' (7). If you live where it gets cold and you want to stretch your season, be sure to grow `Winterbor' F1 (3, 4, 5, 7) and `Vates' (2, 3). If you love the flavor of cooked kale, be sure to try 'Lacinato' (1 and 6). If you're really adventurous, try a little of each and enjoy kale throughout the year!

John Navazio, Ph.D., is director of seed grower development at the Abundant Life Seed Foundation in Port Townsend, Washington, and owner of the organic seed company, Seed Movement, in Bellingham, Washington.

Grow Your Own Kale

Experienced kale growers, knowing the crop's preference for cool weather, sow seeds of their favorite varieties in flats in midsummer for late-midsummer transplanting to the garden. It's often too hot at that time of year to start seeds in a greenhouse, so try the trick of starting them in the partial shade of large trees. Be sure to keep the flats well watered.

For transplanting, choose a sunny, fertile spot with lots of compost in the soil. If possible, plant your kale on a high spot that is well-drained but still out of the wind. This will help to extend the bounty of the crop into the winter time. Space the seedlings 14 inches apart in all directions, or 12 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart.

Aphids can get established early and persist on your kale if you don't have enough insect predators in the vicinity of your garden. Ned Herbert, farm manager of the Abundant Life Seed Foundation, says he tries to always have flowering members of the Umbel family, which includes dill, coriander and bronze fennel, in the garden to attract parasitic wasps that prey on aphids.

You also can remove aphids with a strong spray from your hose. As for cabbageworms, the easiest organic answer is to spray Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Be sure to use the version of Bt that is labeled for caterpillars. Plants mature for harvest in 50 to 80 days. To freeze your bounty, treat it just like spinach: Blanch in boiling water, plunge into iced water to stop the cooking, package in freezer bags and label.

1. Abundant Life Seed Foundation, PO. Box 772; Port Townsend, WA 98368; (360) 385-5660; www.abundantlifeseed.org
2. William Dam, PO. Box 8400; Dundas, Ontario L9H 6M1 Canada; (905) 6286641; www.damseeds.com (Canada only)
3. Harris Seeds , PO. Box 24966; Rochester, NY 14624; (800) 5144441; www.harrisseeds.com
4. Johnny's Selected Seeds, 955 Benton Ave.; Winslow, ME 04901; (207) 861-3901; www.johnnyseeds.com
5. Park's Seeds, 1 Parkton Ave.; Greenwood, SC 29647; (800) 8453369; www.parkseed.com
6. Seeds of Change, PO. Box 15700; Santa Fe, NM 87592; (888) 762-7333; www.seedsofchange.com
7. Territorial Seed Company, PO. Box 158; Cottage Grove, OR 97424;(541) 9429547; www.territorialseed.com

Black Kale Salad

1 cup cooked cannellini, navy or gigantes (lima) beans
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large onion, finely diced
2 leeks, white parts only, diced
1 bunch 'Lacinato' kale, leaves stripped from stems and slivered
1 small savoy cabbage, quartered, cored and chopped
2 plump garlic cloves, minced or pounded with a pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra to finish

Chop all the vegetables (rinse the leeks, kale and cabbage but don't dry them). Warm 2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy, wide skillet. Add the onions and leeks, and cook over medium-low heat until the onion is soft but not browned, about 12 minutes. Add the kale, cabbage, garlic, parsley and salt. Cook with the heat on low and the pan covered until the vegetables are soft and the volume greatly reduced, about 30 minutes.

Add the beans, along with a cup or two of their cooking liquid. Simmer until the greens are completely tender, and season with salt and pepper. Serve with, or over, garlic-rubbed toast, drizzled with olive oil.

—From Local Flavors by Deborah Madison
[Stock No. 1667 on MOTHER'S Bookshelf, to order, call (866) 833-7096]

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