What's in Season: Kale

How to buy, store and cook kale

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What's in Season: Kale Kale is at its best in the cold winter months and is generally very abundant. In fact, it’s one of the world’s favorite crops due to its incredible resilience to pest, climate, and man-made disasters. Want to grow something in your garden but haven’t had any luck in the past? Managed to kill even your weeds? Grow kale. You’ll end up with a lot of kale, in fact, so it’s best to have a plan for when the bounty rolls in!

Kale is related to cabbage and collard greens and, like cabbage, loves the cold end of the growing season when the leaves start storing sugar and loosing much of their bitter edge. There are several types of kale. The most common features somewhat frilly edged leaves, though other varieties with broad, flat leaves are typically less bitter.

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Tags: kale, slideshow, vegetables, What's in Season, Gregory Dal Piaz

Comments

rgibson57

91255 31

I couldn't find the recipe for Kale Chips!

Dec 27, 2010 at 6:33 PM
Gregory-
Dal Piaz

Hand of Snooth Voice of Snooth

89065 89,541

On the Kale Chip slide click on the orange link. That will bring you to a full page article version with a sidebar. The sidebar on the left has an orange link Kale Chips under the download recipe banner.

Hope that helps.

Dec 27, 2010 at 6:52 PM
buckeye-
boy

478550 17

The picture with this article is not kale. It appears to be swiss chard to me.

Dec 27, 2010 at 10:04 PM
semaroz

693237 1

Your first pic is Spinach !! If you're going to do something...do it right...or how can we trust yr recipes?

Dec 28, 2010 at 7:18 AM
nkopan

528600 7

I enjoyed the article as I have a bumper crop of kale growing in the garden. I agree with buckeye-boy - that cover picture is a dead ringer for Swiss Chard.

Dec 28, 2010 at 8:25 AM
treesquad

559591 7

Its definitely Swiss chard on the front, somebody needs to proof check before these things are published

Dec 28, 2010 at 10:07 AM
gchicco

677770 2

Best Kale I've ever had is served at the Cafe Loup on 13th street in NYC. It's a great bistro we've been going to for years, and whatever we have for dinner, we always order the kale as a side dish. Could you secure the recipe?

Dec 29, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Rona Lewis

359096 109

One of my favorite ways of making kale is to saute shallots and garlic in a few tablespoons of good quality olive oil. Then, I add the kale, which has been cleaned and ripped into bite sized pieces. Stir and add 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth and cover. After it steams for about a minute, stir and add 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, a small handful of chopped fresh basil and fresh pepper. Mix and that's it!

Dec 29, 2010 at 5:21 PM
napagirl68

Hand of Snooth

87843 2,050

RE: image 1 (showing the bunches of kale), if that is the photo that some thought was swiss chard or spinach, it is NOT. It is Dinosaur or Tuscan Kale... and looks very different from the average Kale one would find in most grocery stores.

I like using kale in many dishes: I steam it in white wine and toss it with garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper and pasta- I also like it in a chicken broth-based soup with italian sausage and cannellini beans. It is a great green to cook with because it can stand up to heat better than spinach, which can wilt to nothing.

Jan 01, 2011 at 3:35 PM
lyzucchi

431261 1

really fresh dinasour kale is excellent as a salad green. Slice kale thinly ribs and all w/ a honey mustard dressing w/apples and toasted pecans. Also make a killer pesto w/it subbing kale for 2/3's of basil.

Jan 15, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Sheila65

313426 4

Napagirl is correct - the photo is of dinosaur, Tuscan, lacinato or black kale. There are quite a few recipes out there that specifically call for black kale and it is absolutely delish!

Jan 19, 2011 at 10:41 PM