Kale comes from the cabbage family, but associated more with the wild cabbage. The strange thing about kale is that even though it is a member of the cabbage family, the mail leaves don’t form a head.

Kale is also called bercole, There are three variates of kale, curly, ornamental and dinosaur varieties. It belongs to the Brassica family which is a cruciferous vegetable, like cabbage, collards, broccoli and Brussels Sprouts. A cup of kale has 36 varieties-this would  be a good vegetables, 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and it also has Vitamin B6 and it is a good source of potassium.

This is the perfect vegetable to bring down high cholesterol. It works because the kale binds to bile acids and this helps lower cholesterol levels and it also lowers the risk of heart disease.

When you have kale that is tender it is a powerful tasting addition to salads. It is even more powerful when you add things like roasted almonds or red pepper flakes.

In Ireland, kale is mixed with sausage and made for Halloween.

Taiwan, China, and Vietnam kale is popular and used as an ingredient as a beef stir fry.

In Portugal they make a soup. This soup contains pureed potatoes, diced kale, broth , olive oil and a cooked spicy sausage.