Why I Cook My Kale

I've been eating kale since long before 'kale salad' was a thing — but I like my kale cooked. In this article I explain why.

How I discovered kale

In 2004 I bought my first house. That same year, I put in a small garden with a variety of vegetables and it was great. The following year, I made the garden bigger, and the year after that, bigger still. In the spring of that third year, I came across some seeds for this stuff called kale at a dollar store. The picture on the package was appealing (big green leaves), the price was 99 cents, and the rest was history. I've been growing and eating kale ever since, and am proud to say that I came about it naturally, before it became a health craze.

I consider Lacinato (aka “dinosaur”) kale (above) to be the sweetest of the kale varieties I have grown. Unfortunately, so do the slugs and snails. That said, I still prefer it cooked!

Kale is not sweet!

The first time I had a mature plant I broke off a leaf, took a big bite, and chewed it for a while to get a sense of the taste. Suffice it to say - it did not taste like lettuce or spinach; in fact, to me it tasted like slightly bitter broccoli leaves. So I began to play around with cooking them, and I have been eating kale as a cooked green ever since.

Many gardeners grow kale for the first time, then make that first nice shiny green salad they have been dreaming about, only to find that it tastes nothing like the pre-made "kale salad" that they have been buying in bags for years at the supermarket. In fact, it more closely resembles something one might feed rabbits, who will eat almost any green, regardless of how inedible they are to humans.

Part of the reason for that is because much of the mixed greens in the “kale salad” bag are actually not kale (e.g. broccoli, cabbage, pumpkin seeds, Brussel sprouts, chicory, etc.). It’s also the case that there’s usually fruit and nuts in the mix, and of course there’s that sweet, rich, creamy salad dressing. Suffice it to say, the kale is not the star of the show, it's just part of the band. I think it's not a stretch to say that the fact that it’s called "kale salad" is more of an exercise in branding than one of taxonomy. It’s called kale salad because kale is viewed to be a trendy health food - but in fact the recipe has just enough kale to allow it to labelled a “kale salad” without that being a total lie, but not enough that it will make the salad unpalatable. But there’s more to it than that. I don’t know how the kale in the bag in grown, but the kale in your garden is bitter for most of the growing season - and even in the fall when it’s flavor improves dramatically, I still don’t consider mine “salad worthy”. I’ve tried all kinds of ways to make salad with kale. In every instance, the attitude around the table has been polite… but not enthusiastic.

The problem: oxalic acid

Like many other greens, kale has this stuff in it called oxalic acid. Oxalic acid gives plants a bitter taste, and luckily for them, it motivates some herbivores to move on and try something else. Some plants have more of it than others. Swiss chard, for instance, is particularly high in oxalic acid, and eating it raw makes me feel like calling poison control. Within a few minutes of ingestion, the inside of my mouth feels like it has been burned, and it is very uncomfortable for quite some time until it subsides. This makes sense because oxalic acid is toxic. In fact, in high concentrations, it is used as a rust remover, radiator cleaner and ink stain remover! Thankfully, the concentration of oxalic acid in kale is low, and not really a problem for us humans, but it does make it taste bitter - and it should - it’s a natural pesticide. Yay nature!

I find Red (and White) Russian kale to be more vigorous and pest-resistant than Lacinato kale. The trade-off is that it is less tender and not quite as tasty — but still very good.

The solution: fire …and garlic and bacon…

Many of the foods we eat are made digestible or more palatable by cooking, and kale is no exception, ad it only needs to be cooked for a few minutes to affect a dramatic change. Sometimes I add garlic and bacon and chilli peppers. When it's done, the kale tastes like spicy-garlicy-bacon-greens. Of course, there's plenty of modifications to adjust this to your taste. Sometimes I just add garlic, salt and pepper, and sometimes I just steam it and add a little soy sauce. Butter in place of vegetable oil is nice (sadly not for me — I'm lactose intolerant). A light dusting of Parmesan cheese at the end is wonderful, and a great way to get kids to try it (again, sadly not for me). If you are vegan, drop the bacon and add some other savory ingredient like sundried tomatoes. You can also add other greens to the mix. I often add Swiss chard, beet greens, kohlrabi greens, dandelion greens, and anything else that's ready to pick in the garden. It really depends on what meal it will accompany.

Massaging does not help much

If you search the internet for ways to make kale taste better you will find many sources suggesting that massaging it changes everything. I’ve tried this technique many times. If it does make a difference, it is imperceptible to me and my entire family, and we are immune to whatever placebo affect it might offer as added value.

A kale smoothie is not a “kale” smoothie!

I find the notion of kale smoothies difficult to comprehend as a tasty treat. Indeed, a quick perusal of most kale smoothie recipes reveals that by weight, most of them are about 75 per cent not kale (milk/juice/fruit, etc.). I find this revealing to say the least. Like the grocery store “kale salad”, just enough kale has been added to allow the labelling to have a ring of truth without making it so bitter that no one in their right mind would ever drink it for breakfast.

But raw kale has more nutrients

Many people will argue that raw kale has more nutrients than cooked kale - but the cooked kale still has plenty of nutrients, and since it wilts and becomes a bit smaller when cooked - you will probably eat a lot more kale that way - so the numbers will likely even out if that’s important to you. Yes, the vitamin C will be reduced - but it will still be there. It’s also important to bear in mind that things like protein and calcium (for which kale is a good source) are not affected by the application of heat.

Final thoughts

If you like your shakes and salads - more power to you - but for those like me, who want to eat lots of greens but just aren't crazy about raw kale, I think cooking it will help a lot. Vitamins and and minerals aside - for me it’s all about taste anyway - so play around and get it the way you like it, and I think you'll want more kale in your garden!

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Here’s a video where I compare the taste of kale when prepared a variety of different ways: