This is an introduction post to the produce pick of the week! Throughout the week there will be posts on how to prep it, cook it and give overall opinions.
Yes, I missed out on the whole kale craze. I didn’t put it in smoothies. I didn’t make whole kale salads. I didn’t make chips. I didn’t try it when McDonald’s had it. I’ve never touched the stuff.
From what I’ve read, kale is one of the tougher vegetables to eat both in taste and texture. I’m also finding out that eating kale raw is not a good idea, at least in large quantities. It sounds like once the kale craze started people were just shoving it in everything and eating it constantly, which is bad for your thyroid gland. Eating it raw in smaller quantities isn’t too bad apparently. I don’t think this will really affect anyone instantly if you’re just introducing kale to your diet so I wouldn’t worry too much. So, you know, take that little nugget of wisdom with you, just don’t use it as justification to not try it!
I want to like kale. I had the same attitude towards tomatoes where every time I seemed to try them I just didn’t latch on. I finally started putting them on sandwiches and found where they belonged in my heart. At the time they were covered under a layer of fatty mayonnaise with a sprinkle of salt and tons of pepper. Now I can eat a naked slice no problem. This is my plan of attack with kale.
I’m planning on making something tasty with them hidden in there. Another where they are cooked but seasoned like crazy and hopefully after that I’ll enjoy a bite of the raw stuff. This will be condensed into one week so it’s like an expedited tasting.
So we went to the ~fancy~ grocery store for this one and I misread a price tag. I take that back, I don’t make mistakes with price tags. I thought I bought three bundles for .99 cents each, but found out later in the car they were $2.99 each, non organic. The 2 had fallen off of the display. Oh well, this was at the fancy grocery store, but I know most stores sit around the $1.40 area around here.
We ended up with three different kinds of kale. I’m going to use the basic variety for the “hidden vegetable” recipe and the other two for more of the raw-ish preparations. Basic kale is called curly kale and as you can see above it has tightly packed leaves like curly hair almost. As of typing I have yet to unwrap the bundles but this one looks slightly intimidating.
Red kale I believe goes by a few different “red” names. I’ve heard of red Russian and redbor but the tag just says “red kale” so we’re just going to go with that. This one looks easier to deal with when it comes to prepping them. I didn’t research how the tastes differ with each type, it was more of a standing in front of the produce section and thinking, “well, better try them all.”
Lacinto kale would fool me in a lineup and have me believing it’s really just a small bundle of collard greens or some other green. I feel like these would be the best option for kale chips I’ve heard so much about.
If you’re feeling bad for not knowing all the different types of kale, do not worry. All of my knowledge is presented after looking at the stuff in the store and a five minute Google research period. I am not a professional cook nor am I even a skilled home cook, but I am going to show kale the best I got and I hope you give it an effort as well!
Try 52 
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