Kale - Galega de Folhas Lisas (35-11)

I picked a couple handful of this flat leaf kale galega this evening and washed them and chopped them up like collard greens. I put a lil bacon grease and olive oil in skillet and threw the kale in, added some garlic and onion powder and a tad of smoked salt. I sauteed for about 15 minutes and then added a tad of water. OMG, this sauteed kale was soooooo delicious and tender. This was my 1st time growing this flat leaf kale and I have 8 plants growing about 6 inches tall. I pulled the stems off the stalk from the bottom and left a few small leaves at the top. This kale grows like collard greens and will continue to grow leaves till the 1st frost. I will most definitely be blanching and freezing this kale and this kale is not bitter at all. I plan on sowing more seeds to get maybe 8 to 10 more plants. This is the best tasting kale ever! Thanks to grow italian, I will be purchasing more seeds. Also one more note is that I thought the kale would take a long time to cook up cause the leaves felt slightly tender than a tough collard green leaf, well I tell you that as soon as the kale hit the skillet it got tender quick which was so amazing to me!

It grew quickly and abundantly here on the Central Coast of California, all this cool summer (2022) even though I didn't get around to planting it until early summer. It IS the best tasting kale, as well as being a breeze to prepare (no folds to dig dirt/bugs out of, NO MASSAGING, rib removal/slicing easy, etc.) It made DELICIOUS Portuguese Bean/Kale soup. Which is why I bought these seeds at all: this is the kale my mother (and other relatives) grew here when I was a child. As children of Azorean immigrants, my parents' generation grew what their parents knew, and cooked accordingly. To be able to make this traditional Azorean soup again, with the proper kale, has been so wonderful. (Who knew lowly KALE could be so good for the soul?!) It's really nothing like the crinkly kale wannabes that have been the only "kale" available for too many years. (Sorry, kale massaging fans...!)

We just came back from walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. These were growing in abundance in the kitchen gardens as well in in the farms. Thank for carrying this!