Kale

“Kale is my best friend. I eat kale salad. I put kale in my smoothies, kale in my soup. Kale, kale, kale!” - Alanis Morissette

For some, kale can be an acquired taste. But it's well worth the effort! Its touch of bitterness complements other greens and goes well with meats such as ham or bacon.

Five Fun Facts

• Kale keeps its texture well in cooking, and it can be steamed, stir fried, roasted, or eaten raw.
• Kale is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family along with cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, collard greens, kohlrabi, rutabaga, turnips and bok choy.
• There are four main types of kale: curly kale, dinosaur kale, Redbor kale, and Russian kale with curly being the most common.
• Germans have a festival dedicated to kale called Grünkohlfahrt that even includes a trophy for the person who eats the most kale.
• Kale becomes sweeter after a frost.

Nutrition Info

Kale is a good source of the following vitamins and minerals and can be considered a superfood.

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin K
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin C
• Calcium
• Potassium
• Copper
• Manganese

Benefits

Kale may be beneficial in the following ways:

• Helping with weight loss and lowering risk of diabetes.
• Reducing the risk of various types of cancer
• Lowering cholesterol
• Strengthens bone density and brain development 
• Helping build the immune system
• Protecting against cataracts and macular degeneration
• Providing a large variety of vitamins.

Cautions

People that form oxalate containing kidney stones or take Coumadin/warfarin (blood thinner) may need to avoid or limit eating kale. In high amounts it can also interact with how the thyroid gland functions.  

Suggested Recipes  

For the Kids and Kids-at-Heart

Download this activity sheet to play Greens Bingo!

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Credits and thanks in addition to recipes and information linked above: Azquotes.com; Cookforyourlife.org; Mayoclinichealthsystem.org; Tastemade.com; Webmd.com.

Inclusion of a link does not imply WHF endorsement of all content at that link.