My Switch has been flipped and my body is craving hearty soups, roasted veggies and all. the. Kale!
Kale really is the QUEEN of the late Fall garden. It is by far one of the easiest plants to grow and it just keeps giving. Easier to grow than many other superfoods, this stuff was made for Minnesota gardeners.
Growing Kale
Kale can happily grow with only 6 hours of sunlight, and will still produce tender leaves – making it a great option for those of us struggling with the shady side of the garden. Like most leafy things, it likes a healthy dose of Nitrogen, my best practice is to add homegrown compost to the top before planting.
There are quite a few different varieties out there and they are not all created equally.
Kale Variety Role Call
Seed Savers Exchange Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale has consistently tender leaves, and stay roughly one and half feet tall. One of my all time favorites.
The Westlander Kale from High Mowing Organic Seeds was a show stopper this season, producing the ‘Kale Trees’ loved by vegetable gardeners.
I prefer any kind of curly kale to Lacinato (aka Dino) Kale about 1000 : 1. So when I am raving about kale, keep in mind I do NOT mean the stuff pictured above. I mean nothing is 100% perfect, right…
Red Russian is a striking beauty that had a more leathery texture than the others I’ve grown, so I suggest using these in cooked form. Still very much worthy of a spot in the garden.
A single glorious Scarlet Kale from that OVERWINTERED (yes through last years insane polar-vortex temps) and is happily living its best life towards the back of my garden, partly shaded and loving it. I’ve now overwintered plants from the seeds of this kale.
I may have saved the best for last- this is for sure my new favorite for late season harvests and the fact that it is a true perennial in my Zone 4b Minnesota garden.
Homesteader’s Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex
Not only is this a perennial, but the variety of leaves coming from that single seed packet, from flat to curly, darkest green to purples- but all with the best kale flavor I’ve grown. This is also my go-to variety for blanching and freezing to use all winter long. The only company selling these amazing seeds is Experimental Farm Network.
Cold Hardy
Most kale varieties can easily handle temperatures down to 10F. So even up here in Minnesota we can keep these beauties growing into November. A few years back they lasted until our Christmas meal! Because of their size and ability to take the cold I have never grown these with any season extension covers or hoops.
After the first few frosts you’ll fall even more in love with this veggie. They get sweeter with each passing frost!
HARVESTING TRICK
Snap off those bottom leaves first working your way up the stalk as you go. This is a key to not being stuck with big, tough leaves! This is especially important if you want to keep enjoying all season long.
You can always snap off a few leaves and freeze them rather than having to eat tough leaves a few weeks later! This will also leave you with adorable kale trees at the end of the season.
Meet the Kalettes!
Kalettes are kale’s hipster little sister. They’re a mix of kale and Brussel Sprouts. These are gorgeous to grow, with intense purple stems, and purple coloring into the base of the leaf clusters.
They take up a huge space like Brussel Sprouts, and produce a lot of fluff – but the taste is pretty awesome! I’ll grow two or three plants next year instead of six.
Cooking with Kale
We grow a LOT of kale, so here’s how we use it.
Fresh
Chopped and ‘massaged’ (when you run olive oil into the leaves to tenderize them) salads, Here’s one of my favorite chopped kale salad combos as highlighted on my website‘s recipe page.
Kale Chopped Salad
Ingredients
3-4 Cups Kale, torn
Drizzles of EVOO, honey,
1/2 Lemon juiced
S&P
A few Craisins
Directions
Toss into blender of choice and just barely pulse.
Can add fresh berries, parmesan cheese and nuts after blending
Crispy
Kale chips are such a great way to sneak in ALL those Vitamins, minerals and Protein! We just tear and massage in EVOO, bake on a sheet pan for 5-10 minutes at 350F. You can use whatever seasonings you feel like that day- chili powder, cumin, onion powder, or go for an Asian taste and add in Aminos and red pepper flakes. One note; garlic powder tends to burn for me on these.
Steamed + Sautéed
Warm Squash and Crisped Kale Salad!
Have you ever cooked up a pan of kale and red onions? If not, this needs to be one of the next things you try. I’ll add a simple mix of kale greens, onions + garlic with chick peas and roasted squash and boom you’ve got your self a perfect fall salad. This recipe is included in my Market Meals post from last winter.
Add kale, onions and tomatoes to your egg scramble in the morning to boost flavors and nutrients.
Preserving Kale
Since we grow so much kale it is one of the veggies we preserve a lot of as well. I used to just wash tear and freeze, but have found that it holds both its flavor and its texture better if I steam blanche it first. Steam blanching is better for greens that regular blanching directly into the boiling water as it helps retain more of the nutrients.
I then pack the blanched kale leaves into muffin tins and freeze overnight. Then remove the ‘pucks’ which equal roughly 2 cups of fresh kale into freezer bags (important to squeeze out as much moisture before freezing). With the air removed from the bag, its also a great space saving way to store kale. We use frozen kale in recipes all winter long. Frozen kale is perfect for adding into soups and stews, you can also eat it just like steamed/creamed spinach – YUM.
If your main use of frozen kale is in smoothies, I’ll suggest you DO NOT blanche it before freezing. There is something magical about the way kale crumbles and loses some of its toughness when frozen raw. If you’ve never liked kale in smoothies, I challenge you try frozen kale and let me know!
So, are there any Kale Nay Sayers left out there? What can I do to convince you of kale’s abundant awesomeness?
Tell me, which recipes are you going to dig into first?
Michelle
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