FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
KALE
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. II
is the plant (Brassica oleracea fimbriata) and has leaves that do not form a head.
Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.
is a hardy variety of cabbage with erect steams and large leaves and no compact head. The leaves of this plant are eaten as a vegetable.
- ORIGIN Middle English, northern form of cole 'cabbage' from Old English cal, from Latin caulis.
Excerpts from Hawkes, Alex D. 1968. A World of Vegetable Cookery. Simon and Schuster, New York.
Kale is a rather coarse leafy vegetable which today in the United Sttes, enjoys somewhat limited commercial production.
Kale, or Borecole, is actually a sort of nonheading cabbage, botanically placed in the huge, complex Crucifer Family and known by the scientific name of Brassica oleraceda var. acephala. Some collards-Georgia collards, for example-are a kind of Kale; other types of so-called Kales - Sea Kale and Indian kale-have little or no relationship to the Kale reported by Hawkes.
Two principal varieties of Kale are grown in the United States-Scotch, which has crumpled, very curled, rather prickly grayish-green leaves, and Blue or Siberian, not as crumpled nor as curled as the Scotch, and of a handsome blue-green color. Both varieties are grown commercially in several parts of the country.
Kale has long been cultivated in Europe, and was probably introduced into this hemisphere in the late 1600s. In relatively recent years a series of spectacular ornamental kales has been developed, principally in japan, where their compact rosettes of ornately crisped varicolored leaves are utilized in choice flower gardens.
The Chinese cultivate to a considerable degree a form of kale with relatively flat uncurled foliage called kai-lan-choi; it is found in many Oriental markets. Often the bunches of the vegtable are set with pretty spikes of yellow or white flowers, which are consumed along with the greens.