Are You Kale Experienced?

[hoodat]

We never figured collards or kale were ready to eat till they had a frost. The frost makes the starch in them turn to sugar as a sort of organic anti freeze. I've dug down into the snow to harvest kale and collards and they were delicious.
When I first went South many years ago I was introduced to greasy greens. Yummy to the tummy. Fry several strips of bacon to a crisp and set aside. Fry some sliced onions in the bacon grease till they are transparent and add chopped kale or collards. Salt and pepper to taste. Pile it in. It will shrink a lot as it cooks. Keep tossing till it is tender, then crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top. The mid South version of hot sauce is the vinegar from pickled hot peppers. Use that on it if you like the heat.

 

[digitS']

I think an easy mistake some folks make with kale is to eat leaves that are too old.

Kale is normally kind of tough and certainly a strong-flavored green. But, there's no need to take only the oldest leaves.

Sure, you can take the old leaves off the plant - and drop them. (It helps if you provide mid-season fertilizer so the plant has nutrients to replace the leaves.) The ones between those old leaves and the growing tip are the tastiest! I mean, how many of us would eat the outer leaves of cabbage?

My kale plants look a little like palm trees right now . .

Steve

 

[hoodat]

My rabbits take care of the problem of tough outer leaves quite well. They turn them into Lapin Au Vin and ferilizer that doesn't need composting.

 

[sparks]

I start kale in the greenhouse very early. Love the young tender leaves sauteed with eggs. I dry it and add to soups, casseroles and meatballs and meatloaves. The outer leaves are fed to the chickens all summer long!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

my chickens and turkeys seem to love the older leave just as much as the newer ones! so no complaints with them! i'm going to till my lower garden this weekend and get some hoop houses started to see if i can get some more kale and other leafy greens going while we are just going to be hit with the frost for the next 2-3 months up here. we don't usually get snow until December, we just have a lot of frost and cool/cold mornings.

 

[yubafarm]

I am a kale addict! I grow it all year (spoiled here near San Francisco). It is much easier to grow in the winter because there are no bugs then and we rarely get a frost. In the summer I get cabbage worms but they are pretty easy to deal with, I just pick them off. I have to keep an eye out for the aphids, too. Chard is near impossible here in the summer due to leaf miners, but I keep trying anyway, and now that winter is coming I will be able to grow it bug-free.

I stir fry or steam kale and put it in omelets, soups, and stir fries. If you like Indian food and the dish called saag paneer (pureed spinach with curry and cubes of cheese), you can make it with pureed kale. I use tofu instead of cheese because it is a special indian cheese that I can't be bothered to make or buy - tofu works great.

I also give the buggy leaves to the chickens.

But the absolute BEST kale recipe ever...is cheesy kale chips. OMG!! I bought a dehydrator just so that I could make these, but you might be able to pull it off on the lowest temperature setting in an oven. http://prideandvegudice.com/2011/06/12/cheesy-kale-chips/

 

[digitS']

These kale chips seem to have a lot of fans . .

This was the year I was planning to have Couve Tronchuda. Don't recognize that name? It is the kale that is used in Portuguese kale soup.

Here is a video from Johnny's about it (click).

Johnny's and Kitchen Garden Seeds have it but . . . I forgot. The South Seas Guy Lon is nearly as large and in this family. I bet it would make good soup. . . if'n the plants decide they can grow in my Fall garden .

Steve