Description
- Earthy flavor
- Lots of nutritional benefit with very little calories
- Part of the cruciferous family of vegetables
- Different types are: curly kale, ornamental kale and dinosaur kale
- Curly kale – ruffled leaves, fibrous stem, pungent flavour with bitter, peppery taste
- Ornamental kale – green, white or purple leaves, more mild flavor
- Dinosaur kale – dark blue green leaves, sweeter, more delicate flavor than curly kale
Health Benefits
- Has cholesterol lowering benefits if steamed
- Kale has been shown to reduce the risks of cancers such as bladder, ovarian, breast, colon and prostate
- Helps with detoxification
- Excellent source of Vitamin K, A and C
- Excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
How to Select and Store
- Choose kale with firm deep green leaves and moist hardy stemll
- Leaves should look fresh, unwilted, no browning or yellowing
- Choose kale with smaller leaves – it will taste more tender and mild
- Store in plastic bag in refrigerator
- Will keep for about 5 days – the longer you store it the more bitter it becomes
- Do not wash and store – wash it right before you use it
- Kale is high in pesticides, so buy organic if available
Best way to cook kale
- Steam in steamer pot with 2 inches of water for about 5 minutes
Features Recipes
- Rainbow Kale Salad
- Spicy Kale Salad
- Kale Chips
- Red Pepper and Kale Soup
- Kale Soup
- Berry Kiwi Banana Kale Smoothie
- Also featured in many of our smoothies – search for kale on our homepage
Content courtesy of whfoods.org
