Saturday, October 11, 2008

Kale

As healthy as can be. (I just wish I could get my family to eat it.)
Like broccoli, cauliflower and collards, kale is a descendent of the wild cabbage, a plant thought to have originated in Asia Minor and to have been brought to Europe around 600 B.C. by groups of Celtic wanderers. Curly kale played an important role in early European foodways, having been a significant crop during ancient Roman times and a popular vegetable eaten by peasants in the Middle Ages. English settlers brought kale to the United States in the 17th century.

Both ornamental and dinosaur kale are much more recent varieties. Dinosaur kale was discovered in Italy in the late 19th century. Ornamental kale, originally a decorative garden plant, was first cultivated commercially as in the 1980s in California. Ornamental kale is now better known by the name salad savoy.

Share

1 comment:

Alexandra said...

I recently tried kale with squash in an au gratin recipe. I did not taste the kale at all - very tasty. We like it so much I are going to cook it again substituting other veggies which aren't so palatable.