Missives from a Market Farmer: Kale

Missives is a series of short articles by Judy Lessler, a DFM farmer, on the history, cultivation, and preparation of the items sold at market.

In the past six years, kale has displaced lettuces as favorite green for DFM customers. Kale is called a super food because of its high nutritional value, and chefs and home cooks have recently developed many ways to prepare it. The 1959 edition of the Fannie Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook has a single entry for Greens, a category encompassing, "young tender beet tops, Swiss chard, dandelion greens, collards, kale, chicory, escarole, lettuce, spinach, turnip tops, and mustard green." The cook is instructed to wash, salt, and cook the greens until barely tender using little water; to drain and chop the cooked greens; and to season then with butter, pepper and salt. This is not a bad recipe, but a quick internet search will yield sites, such as, 101 Cookbooks or Real Simple with recipes for chips, smoothies, soups, salads, stir-fries, stews, casseroles, and so on. I have included my favorite Kale Wake-Up Smoothie Recipe below, and I am looking forward to trying:  Slow Cooker Sausage and Kale Stew with Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes , which sounds both creative and simple to prepare. 

 

Kale is a member of the  Cruciferae family. The majority of the edible varieties are in the genus Brassica, and Brassica oleracea includes cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and kohlrabi. A variety is a type that is found in nature. Like various dog breeds created by people for specific purposes, e.g., Chihuahuas, Greyhounds, and St. Bernard's, a cultivar is a variety created by farmers and agronomists. This can be done by selecting and cultivating naturally occurring varieties or purposely creating crosses. 

 

You will find many cultivars of kale at market. I interviewed vegetable farmers last Wednesday, and most grew three to four cultivars. On the whole, our DFM farmers start seeds in their greenhouses and then move transplants to the field. A few also scatter seeds on tops of beds and rake them in, which works particularly well for fall crops and cool weather.

 

In future weeks I will write about the 2500 year documented history on cultivation of kale and about recent scientific research in how human genetic variations result in different reactions to kale's bitter flavor. 

 

Kale Wake-Up Smoothie Recipe

6 to 8 cups

 

1 cup seedless grapes

1 grapefruit, peeled and cut into thick slices

1 cup apple or pineapple

1 cup strawberries or banana, frozen if desired

2 cups spinach or kale

Water or green tea as desired

Honey or sugar (optional)  

 

Place 1/2 cup water or green tea in blender. Add remaining ingredients in order listed.  Blend at a low speed and quickly increase speed.  Blend to desired consistency.  Add additional water or tea as desired for a more liquid drink.  Taste and add sugar, honey, or lemon to taste. Store extra in jar with top in refrigerator.  Shake before serving stored smoothie.