KALE

It is a biennial of very ancient cultivation. It was not developed for its flowers, like the cauliflower and the broccoli, nor for its heads like the Savoy cabbage, but for its profusion of leaves. It is open-hearted like collard and borecole, but generally has frizzy leaves.
This is the hardiest of all the Brassica and will stand the most severe frosts. Some varieties attain a height of nearly two metres while others, such as Labrador kale, produce a low mat of curled shoots.

Plant Names
Botanical Family: 
Brassicaceae
Common Name: 
KALE
Genus: 
Brassica
Species: 
oleracea acephala
About the Name: 

brassica is simply the name used by the Romans for cabbage, and oleracea for "vegetable-like"; acephala means "without a head" in Greek.

Origins: 

Kale is the closest plant to the ancestor of the cabbage that still grows wild along the coasts of Europe.

Plant Description: 

It is a biennial of very ancient cultivation. It was not developed for its flowers, like the cauliflower and the broccoli, nor for its heads like the Savoy cabbage, but for its profusion of leaves. It is open-hearted like collard and borecole, but generally has frizzy leaves.
This is the hardiest of all the Brassica and will stand the most severe frosts. Some varieties attain a height of nearly two metres while others, such as Labrador kale, produce a low mat of curled shoots.

Variety Notes: 

Considering the many types of kale that have been bred, comparatively few have survived. Look for Dwarf Blue, Cottage, Moss Curled, Asparagus and Russian kales. The Siberian types, which have slightly curled foliage, are considered to be the most hardy of all. The Dunedin area in the South Island of New Zealand is a rich source of family heirloom seed stock. Collard, kale and borecole ("Listivaia Kapousta" in Russian) are all early forms of leaf cabbage.
What the English called "Buda Kale", and the Germans "Schnittkohl", was a fodder cabbage very useful for the small farmer. They are ideal to grow beside the chook yard or next to the dairy so that the individual leaves can be picked and thrown over the fence. In Britanny, which many locals consider a French colony within France, villagers still have neat blocks of Chou-mollier (Tall Fodder Cabbage, Walking Stick Cabbage, Palm Tree Kale), their stems denuded by the constant plucking of leaves for their animals.
A seed saver sent the seeds of a leaf cabbage called "Zeye" that is a pure landrace from the island of Korcula near Dubrovnic (Dalmatia), in the former Yugoslavia, where he was born. He says that very few insects worry the plant and that it is very drought-hardy. It grows to one and a half metres high and is eaten with potatoes and salted pork. Very filling! In his old village only a dozen plants have to go to seed to supply the whole district. They have done so for centuries and let us hope they will continue. The variety is now grown by many seed savers in Australia.

Bookmark/Search this post with