Savoijinkaali - Savoy cabbage

Savoijinkaali
Brassica oleracea var. sabauda

La­mi­a­ce­ae -hei­mo, Ris­ti­kuk­kais­kas­vit

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Sa­voi­jin­kaa­li eli kurt­tu­kaa­li näyt­tää muo­dol­taan ta­val­li­sel­ta kerä­kaa­lil­ta, mut­ta sen kupu on pie­nem­pi ja leh­det epä­ta­sai­sen kuo­pik­kaat. Sa­voi­jin­kaa­lin pääl­lim­mäi­set leh­det ovat tum­mem­mat, kun taas si­sem­mät leh­det ovat kel­lan­vaa­lei­ta.

Sa­voi­jin­kaa­li-nimi on pe­räi­sin Rans­kas­ta lä­hel­tä Ita­li­an ja Sveit­sin ra­jaa si­jait­se­vas­ta Sa­voi­jin alu­ees­ta.

Sa­voi­jin­kaa­lin se­son­ki on elo- ja mar­ras­kuus­sa. Se kyp­syy no­pe­am­min kuin esi­mer­kik­si kerä­kaa­li.
Sa­voi­jin­kaa­lin maku on mie­dom­pi kuin mui­den kaa­lien. Leh­te­vä ja mie­don päh­ki­näi­nen kaa­li so­pii mai­nos­ti wok­kei­hin, sa­laat­tei­hin ja pa­toi­hin tai vaik­ka uu­dis­ta­maan pe­rin­teis­tä kaa­li­kää­ry­let­tä. Sa­voi­jin­kaa­li si­säl­tää run­saas­ti A- ja C-vi­ta­mii­nia sekä bee­ta­ka­ro­tee­nia, jot­ka vah­vis­ta­vat vas­tus­tus­ky­kyä.

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Savoy cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. sabauda

Sa­voy is a type of head for­ming cab­ba­ge with strong­ly ´crink­led` le­a­ves that ran­ge from a dark rich waxy green of the ou­ter le­a­ves to a bright yel­low green of the in­ner le­a­ves.

Sa­voy is re­a­dy to har­vest when the cab­ba­ge head feels firm (so­lid) and is he­a­vy for its size. This ta­kes about 60-80 days for the au­tumn va­rie­ties which then tend to split, or the bet­ter win­ter va­rie­ties that need 3-4 weeks lon­ger and should be plan­ted ear­lier.

Gro­wing sa­voy is not dif­fi­cult if you plant at cor­rect spa­cing, give suf­fi­cient or­ga­nic fer­ti­li­zer and most im­por­tant­ly pro­tect the plants from in­sect and pest da­ma­ge by using flee­ce or in­sect net­ting. In Fin­land choo­se an ear­ly win­ter va­rie­ty nee­ding around 110 days for the best qu­a­li­ty.

Nut­ri­ti­o­nal­ly sa­voy has all the ex­cel­lent be­ne­fits as­so­ci­a­ted with bras­si­cas and a he­alt­hy diet. It keeps its co­lour and crink­ly ap­pe­a­ran­ce well when coo­ked and has an in­te­res­ting slight­ly sweet tas­te spe­ci­fic to sa­voy.

Qu­a­li­ty prob­lems are usu­al­ly as­so­ci­a­ted with in­sect and pest da­ma­ge, spit­ting of ear­ly va­rie­ties and some in­ter­nal fun­gal or bac­te­ri­al prob­lems.
Sa­voy does not sto­re so well as nor­mal head cab­ba­ges, if har­ves­ted in good con­di­ti­on it could last for 2-4 weeks in the frid­ge if the hu­mi­di­ty is not too low.