Posted on 07/30/2022 6:48:25 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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The Rise and Fall of Kale
Does anyone remember the kale craze circa 2016? I was thinking about it recently and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how and why it became so popular. The way it was back then, it was almost as if it was a newly discovered species of plant and not something that had always existed. I tried kale once and it was absolutely disgusting. Why did people put themselves through that?! Don’t get me wrong, I love my cruciferous vegetables: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, arugula. But kale is one I have never been able to enjoy. I honestly would rather stick to spinach as my rich salad green than put myself through the bitter, fibrous mouth-shattering experience that is kale.
The History of Kale
A good food story always starts with the origin of the item in question. The thing about kale is that, unlike other crops that have greatly influenced society, kale doesn’t have books dedicated to its history. It’s almost as if it’s just a hype crop with no great societal effect. Either that or no one has found the time to write extensively and properly about it. Nevertheless, I’ll go through the brief history of kale I have been able to find online.
Kale has been known to man for more than 2000 years and its origin can be traced back to eastern Mediterranean or Asia Minor. The leafy green found its way to Europe and the Americas through various trade routes. Apparently, the earliest mention of kale in America was in 1669 but I haven’t been able to find a reliable source that properly explains this encounter. In Europe, kale was (and is) popular amongst the Scots. Since it thrives well in cold weather and is easy to grow, it was a garden stable amongst Scottish families. For most of history, kale had served the function of a garnish, nothing too fancy.
Why The Craze?
If you guessed that celebrities got their hands on the plant and the masses followed suit, you guessed right. There are only a few options that propel a relatively unknown food to the forefront of the conscience of the masses in “first world” countries: 1) the food industry needs to push a specific product so that they don’t lose money or so that they make more money 2) famous people have gotten their hands on said food. The culprits in the case of kale are Gywneth Paltrow, Michelle Obama, and Beyoncé. I believe that the longevity of the kale craze was because each of these celebrities endorsed kale are different points (Gywneth in 2011 — the first wave, Michelle in 2012, and Beyoncé in 2014). 3 extremely influential and good-looking women say that kale is amazing, the masses didn’t stand a chance. Kale was like a new miracle plant that was going to change people’s lives. It’s a superfood, a little goes a long way, has one of the highest vitamin C content amongst leafy greens, can be eaten in different ways, allegedly has anti-cancer properties. I mean, what’s there not to like about the plant? The problem is that it’s not an easily palatable plant, especially to be eaten raw. People were forcing themselves to enjoy kale at the expense of their palates. Do you know who I feel sorry for the most? Kids whose parents introduced it to the dinner table as the new green. If you thought broccoli was bad, kale was definitely the devil. Eating kale had become a new badge of honour. If you could eat and “enjoy” kale daily, you would be seen as a healthy eater who had their life together (this is a personal opinion, it’s just the vibe I was getting from the food community back then). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that kale isn’t good or eating kale is bad. I’m just saying that the hype around the plant was unnecessary. There are other reliable and awesome leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables that have faithfully been with us for centuries and have never gotten as much attention as kale, simply because they are so reliable.
But the main issue I have with kale is the hype. We need to stop hyping up foods without thinking about the consequences they’ll have on communities. Look at avocado and coffee. They have now become blood money crops. The only saving grace of kale is that 60% of the U.S consumption of kale was produced domestically. They did not have to import a huge amount of it to meet up with demand. Hyping up a plant leads to a rapid increase in the production of a crop, which sometimes leads to the clearing of more land, which in turn affects the climate. When the hype dies, demand decreases sharply and next thing you know, waste increases and all the nice things that come with it ensue. Only a few hype plants/crops have stood the test of time (e.g. avocado) because they are 100% worth it, but it came at a cost to the communities that had to be converted to avocado farmlands. I don’t know if that was worth it.
Let’s think carefully before joining the hype around a crop, it’s not as harmless as it might seem.
I started harvesting my garlic and some of the bulbs were enormous!
My tomatoes are ripening so I’ll be doing sauce the next couple weeks.
Everything here has died due to the 105°F to 110°F temps for the past 3 weeks, so as soon as this blistering heat wave breaks and temps return to a more normal range, I’m going to do a second planting. Kale would be a great thing to add. If I can’t find any seeds anywhere, ordinary ol’ lettuce will have to do.
One thing that IS growing, however, is watermelons. They’re on the north side of the house, which now seems to be a very fortunate thing. Blossoms and vines galore. They’re supposed to get a little larger than the Sugar Babies that my Sis grew last year, which is fine with me. Hopefully they’ll have less seeds, though! That’s the one thing that drives me nuts about the Sugar Babies.
Then I asked myself: "Why bother?" -
and replaced the kale with finely chopped broccoli.
It tastes better and is just as healthy.
CLICK ON A STALK OF KALE!
We’re having a cool spell so the tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. Unfortunately, we’re getting enough rain to make them split. Just can’t win this year.
All of the things that are happening could have been avoided or solved with a high tunnel. Could have started cool weather crops early enough to harvest before the mid 90s hit in May(a month early). Shade cloth could have been put over it for the high 90s - low 100s and watering would be controlled.
I also have never gone nuts over kale. I’ve always wondered what the fuss it about. It’s overrated.Raw kale is for me eating a raw leaf of rhubarb. Quite bitter. When cooked, kale shrinks down quite a bit, like wet paper. My preferred greens are usually Collard Greens, Turnip or Mustard Greens. Everyone has their own preference. What we grew up eating or seeing has a lasting impact.
I tried it this year for the first time. Meh. Steamed it. Chopped it, froze it for pizza or soup.
You have to cook down kale very well to make it edible.
Olive Garden makes a delicious Soup Toscana.
Kale leaves cooked soft with redskin potatoes and Italian sausage in a creamy broth flavored w/ diced onions and bacon bits.
People are addicted to this soup.
Not a kale person at all, especially ‘curly’ kale or much worse, the chopped up cr@p that comes in bags from the grocery story - ugh. The ‘dinosaur’ kale is more my speed ... if I’m doing kale at all. Currently, my dad is on a kale kick ... I bought some ‘Dazzling Blue Kale OG’ when I ordered my cuke seeds so I’ll plant that for him, along with some ‘Nero Toscana’, also known as dinosaur kale, black Tuscan kale. Assuming it grows, I won’t be eating any. People tend to think kale is SO healthy ... however, what they do not realize is that a lot of what shows up in the laboratory when vegetables are tested for vitamins, etc. is not bio-available to humans because plants are a totally different system from humans. That being said, I would like some “green” in the garden this fall & kale for dad will be it. I missed planting radishes this spring - will likely do some this fall, too.
June 14, 2018 .... so what is the significance of that date? I am in the process of cleaning out the freezer since I have half a hog coming my way the end of September. The June 2018 date is on some small containers of pesto that I made from a large basil crop I had that year. The pesto is still good! I used some of it this past week in a dish of leftover turkey (from last Thanksgiving - another freezer clean out item). My basil got a major ‘haircut’ last evening - cut it back to half size ... no pesto making until what I have is gone so it will likely be next year before I do pesto again. Also majorly cut back last evening were the lemon verbena & sage .... oregano is in bloom & the bees love it, so I mostly left that as is, just took out some total stems that were blocking the sun from a thyme plant.
One more thing ... my mower holds 10 gallons of gas - I can do the farm (yard/fields) twice on that amount of gas. We also have a generator (holds 15 gallons, but we only keep a couple gallons in it, just to test start it). My mom shops at Kroger, which offers “fuel points”. During June, due to various circumstances and coupons (4x fuel points), we ended up with enough to get $1.50 off per gallon (limit 35 gallons). AFter filling the mower, I had 6 empty 5 gallon cans plus the car was half empty. Gas, after the fuel points were applied, ended up at $2.50/gallon and I got the max, 35 gallons .... savings was $52.50 .... I call that a “score”!
Despite the heat (100+ heat index), I got a project done that has been driving me nuts …. getting the Hummingbird Garden weeded and planted in flowers. The HBG is two raised beds made out of old half-round fence posts and was supposed to be a cut-flower bed for mom, but she doesn't use it. Last year, I had 3 big tithonia in one bed & zinnias/wild flowers in the other. This year, I could not get any tithonia to germinate … my seeds from last year OR some commercial seeds. After trying twice, it finally was so late that I quit trying – plants would not have enough time to grow large enough to flower.
Every time I let the HBG beds grow up, I say “Never Again” and here I was Wednesday, weeding the beds (although I had a good excuse: The Knee). The tithonia bed had been mulched with pine needles …. took maybe 10 minutes to clean up. The other bed had no mulch & had 'grassed' up – the root clumps were so thick, deep & tough that I could not hand pull, nor use my regular (and favorite) 'Japanese weeding stick' …. I had to resort to some major digging with a pick mattock. Big swings required to get it deep enough – at least the soil was damp from the rain and not hard as concrete. Shaking the dirt out of the clumps was a pain – so much dirt in them that there would have been none left in the bed without getting it out of the large clumps. It took me most of the morning to clean that bed because I had to take frequent breaks due to the heat/humidity. On Wednesday, I drank two quarts of homemade electrolytes & between dinner and bed time, another 24 ounces of iced tea.
Thursday, I hauled cedar chips from a big pile we have to cover the walkways. The chips smell SO good & being a reddish color, they look nice, too. When I cleaned the old tithonia bed, I was thrilled to find a “volunteer” tithonia! I hope it will grow big/fast enough to flower. I got it mulched and staked up – once they get pretty big & bushy with leaves, storm winds will blow them over – I had that happen last year. Thursday evening, I got the beds planted – the one bed is all zinnias (5 rows) & the tith bed has some TX wildflowers (2 rows) in it that a cousin gave me. If the wildflowers don't come up, that's ok – the tith will need a lot of room. Everything is mulced with pine needles – they will help hold in the heavy rains from yesterday.
The next project (and last one, regarding any raised beds) is to weed the sunflower bed next to the HBG garden – maybe an hour or two of work required, so not too bad. I planted Giant sunflower seeds June 27 and the plants are over waist high. I did mulch, but between rows of where the seeds went in & weeds are coming up between the plants. Now that the plants are big enough, I can mulch around the individual plants, once the weeds come out. The sunflowers should have time to bloom before any frost would get them – the finches will be very happy to have a late seed source.
Before … what a mess!
After – beds planted, mulched, walkway covered in chips
Feeder with shade & 'baby tith'
Sunflowers next to HBG (weeds to be vanquished shortly!):
I’m one that LOVES Kale, but the only way I eat it fresh is in a salad mixed with other greens.
Otherwise I like it for soups, quiche, Pesto and smoothies. all of which I’ll post recipes for as the week goes on.
It freezes well, so it’s one of those things I stockpile and freeze for fall and winter cooking.
This year I planted the ‘Dinosaur’ Kale and a green curly kale from seed called ‘Prism.’ It really is the nicest green kale I’ve found. (Jung seed, but others probably have it by now, too.)
Thanks, Pete!
LOL! Yes, a High Tunnel solves a multitude of gardening woes. :)
Our high heat has abated a bit - down to 90 instead of 10 degrees hotter, August is almost here and September is next - two of our hottest months with hot winds - not looking forward to it at all.
Meanwhile, a few things are recovering.
I got two lovely irises this past week:
And these nice plumerias decided to make an appearance:
I am still fighting nasty fig beetles that are destroying my figs - I've never had them before. I got a spray from the local garden store but it doesn't seem to deter them too much, even when I spray it directly on them. Arrrggg....
And, my helpers, waiting for instructions:
Kale....eyew.
See my post above. Kale is a great, nutritious ‘ingredient.’ On it’s own, not so much. ;)
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