Kale - Brassica Oleracea Acephala
Euan McIntyre
Despite striking fear into the hearts of many fussy eaters, kale took the world of healthy eating by storm around a decade ago, and is still going strong.
"Kale is a superfood, and it’s special power is tasting bad "- Jim Gaffigan
In the early 2010s, kale was slowly picking up momentum as the new trendy vegetable on the scene. Despite its widespread undeserved reputation as nothing more than a terrible tasting accompaniment, nutrition experts and dieticians were fawning over its high levels of vitamins A and C. Chefs loved it for its versatility and it became a key ingredient for restaurants catering to the vegan movement. But Kale didn’t have it’s defining moment of fame until late 2014, when Beyonce released a music video for her single ‘7/11’. She was filmed wearing a jumper emblazoned simply with the word ‘KALE’. That was all it took for Kale to cement it’s already strengthening grip on food-fashion. Every juice bar in the US started selling kale smoothies and healthy eating influencers couldn’t have plugged it more. Oprah Winfrey made kale crisps live on her show. These days, as with all trends, the hype has lessened slightly. But nevertheless, kale still holds high authority in the world of superfoods.
Kale’s reputation as a superfood is well deserved. It is a powerful antioxidant, has anti-cancer properties, and contains a multitude of vitamins and minerals. Just 120g of kale has more vitamin C than an orange, and over 4 times the amount that spinach has. It has so much vitamin K - a coagulating vitamin that enables clotting - that people on blood thinning medication are advised to monitor how much they consume. Kale will lower cholesterol, improve your eyesight, help you lose weight, etc, etc.. Essentially, if you can think of a health benefit, chances are kale has you covered.
Not only is it as good for you as Oprah and Beyonce would have you believe, it is also one of the most sustainable options on the table. Unlike some of its companions on the superfood guest list - like coconuts, almonds and chia seeds - kale is able to be grown almost anywhere, reducing the need for food miles. It can also grow in poor, acid soils, and requires a relatively small amount of water. Other than among the poor souls in this world who were subjected to mushy, bitter kale boiled to within an inch of its life, it’s hard to find a bad word to say about it.
Kale, like all brassicas, is simply a form of Brassica oleracea (wild cabbage). An incredible range of seemingly unrelated plants such as brussels sprouts, cauliflower and turnip have all been bred from this one plant. Kale however, is considered to be the closest of all the domesticated forms to their common ancestor. It is sometimes also called borecole, from the Dutch boerenkool, meaning ‘peasants cabbage’. And for years this translation rang true. Much like many other members of the brassica family, kale was originally mostly grown to feed livestock, and was only consumed in the houses of the poorest crofters. It does however earn a mention on Charlemagne’s 8th century list of selected plants (Capitulare de Villis), where he described it as ‘the colour of Woade, bunched or swollen up around the edges as it were a piece of leather wet and broiled on a gridiron’. An unflattering, but accurate observation.
In Scotland, we have a great relationship with kale. Scottish gardeners have obviously loved it for centuries, due to its ability to tolerate almost any form of weather, no matter how extreme. In Orkney and Shetland, kale was so often consumed that the Scots word for kale (kail) became a term for a general meal. ‘Cold kail yet again’, was a phrase used to bemoan a stale story or sermon. Ruins of small, circular walled structures known as plantie-crubs can be found scattered across these islands, and often down onto mainland Scotland as well, in Sutherland and Caithness. The stones would provide shelter from the wind, reflected heat and the soil inside would be improved with ash and seaweed. They also gave the kale a chance to grow in an area free of marauding sheep, which from experience, is not easy real estate to come by on an island croft.
So loved in Shetland is kale, that there is a variety named for the island. The leaves of ‘Shetland kale’ can be picked young and eaten - true to its namesake - as kale, or it can be left to mature fully, and will form a loose cabbage-like head. This variety was used to feed animals, provide food through the winter, or salted and stored in barrels. The Shetland kale I had in the Fhior garden last year proved a bit of a challenge. Horticulturally, it was a breeze - it germinated well, and took to the poor stony soil like a fork to hay. The challenge came in the kitchen. The tough leaves were like leather, and the thick veins were woody. A plant that has evolved to withstand the elements unsurprisingly doesn’t yield well to being tenderly cooked. The importance of growing heritage varieties like Shetland kale though, cannot be stressed enough. I have written another piece about the importance of heritage vegetables, to argue that growing Shetland kale was much more than just an experiment for us. But that’s a story for a different day - I don’t want to steal the spotlight from kale just yet.
Kale will no doubt continue to turn up the noses of a few for the time being, but as more and more people come round to shopping sustainably and seasonally, it will come into its own. The number of people living off of a plant based diet is rising all the time, and kale will have a part to play here too. And an honourable mention has to go to the people who at the end of the day, just want to be like Beyonce. Don’t we all?
