Lehtikaali - Curly Kale

Leh­ti­kaa­li – Kale
Bras­si­ca ole­ra­cea subsp. Ole­ra­cea

Bras­si­ca­ce­ae – hei­mo, Ris­ti­kuk­kais­kas­vit

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Leh­ti­kaa­li on lä­him­pä­nä alku­pe­räis­tä vil­li­kaa­lia eikä se muo­dos­ta ke­rää. Leh­ti­kaa­li on vä­ril­tään vih­reä tai tum­man vih­re­än pu­nai­nen. Leh­ti­kaa­lis­ta syö­dään usein vain eril­li­se­nä kas­va­vat leh­det.

Leh­ti­kaa­li on to­den­nä­köi­ses­ti kul­keu­tu­nut Suo­meen vii­kin­kien mu­ka­na Sak­sas­ta tai Eng­lan­nis­ta esi­his­to­ri­al­li­se­na ai­ka­na. Leh­ti­kaa­li kui­ten­kin jou­tui noin 1700-lu­vun jäl­keen Eu­roo­pas­sa uu­den ja sa­toi­sam­man la­jik­keen, val­ko­kaa­lin syr­jäyt­tä­mäk­si. Kui­ten­kin esi­mer­kik­si vuon­na 2013 leh­ti­kaa­lis­ta nou­si koti­maas­sam­me ¨hit­ti­kas­vis ja se on jat­ka­nut suo­si­on­sa kas­vat­ta­mis­ta.

Voi­mak­kaan ma­kui­nen jopa ma­kea (en­sim­mäis­ten pak­kas­ten jäl­keen ke­rät­ty) leh­ti­kaa­li on help­po ja moni­puo­li­nen ka­ve­ri keit­ti­ös­sä. Leh­det so­pi­vat uju­tet­ta­vak­si mel­kein mi­hin ta­han­sa pais­tok­seen, wok­kiin, pii­rak­kaan tai vaik­ka smoot­hi­een. Kaa­lis­ta voi teh­dä myös vaik­ka ra­pei­ta sip­se­jä. Yk­sin­ker­tai­sim­mil­laan nap­si­taan vain pois pui­nen leh­ti­ruo­ti, re­vi­tään kaa­li pa­la­sik­si, pu­ris­tel­laan kä­sin het­ki olii­vi­öl­jyn ja suo­lan kans­sa. Näin her­kul­li­nen sa­laat­ti­poh­ja on jo val­mis. Se si­säl­tää pal­jon C-vi­ta­mii­nia. Leh­ti­kaa­li on hyvä rau­dan, kal­siu­min ja pro­te­ii­nin läh­de kai­kil­le, mut­ta eri­tyi­ses­ti osa­na kas­vis­ruo­ka­va­li­o­ta.

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Cur­ly Kale
Bras­si­ca ole­ra­cea subsp. Ole­ra­cea

When grown tra­di­ti­o­nal­ly cur­ly kale is a tall, ele­gant plant with a strong and straight cent­ral stem from which grow bright green or deep red co­lo­red le­a­ves. The edib­le le­a­ves have long stems(pe­ti­o­les) and pro­mi­nent mid­ribs, they have a cur­ly ap­pe­a­ran­ce and a fril­ly leaf mar­gin.

Har­ves­ting tra­di­ti­o­nal­ly be­gins as soon as the plant is ful­ly grown and es­tab­lis­hed, usu­al­ly ta­king about 80-90 days. The lo­west and toug­her le­a­ves can be left on the plant, and the youn­ger more ten­der ones ta­ken prog­res­si­ve­ly from the mid­sec­ti­on of the stem. Using this met­hod al­lows the up­per part of the plant to con­ti­nue gro­wing to pro­du­ce new le­a­ves for a la­ter har­vest. If ca­re­ful­ly done a strong kale plant can yield le­a­ves from late Au­gust right through to the end of Oc­to­ber or when it even­tu­al­ly be­co­mes too cold. This app­lies to Fin­land, in war­mer re­gi­ons of Eu­ro­pe kale is har­ves­ted throug­hout the who­le win­ter.
Nut­ri­ti­o­nal­ly kale an ex­cel­lent examp­le of the type of food nee­ded in he­alt­hy diet. Fi­ber, mi­ne­rals and vi­ta­mins are abun­dant and along with its ease to grow make it a good choi­ce for the ama­teur ve­ge­tab­le gar­de­ner.

The­re are many ways to grow kale, more re­cent met­hods supp­ly the de­mand for young le­a­fy mix sa­lads and such things as smoot­hies. The­se met­hods aim to pro­du­ce as many le­a­ves as pos­sib­le in the shor­test pe­ri­od. The tra­di­ti­o­nal way is to give the plants plen­ty of time and spa­ce (min. 50x50cm), ir­ri­ga­ting when dry and fer­ti­li­zing in a si­mi­lar way to brus­sels sprouts. The re­sul­ting plants should be strong, he­alt­hy, easy to har­vest and give an ex­cel­lent yield of good qu­a­li­ty le­a­ves.
The­re are few qu­a­li­ty prob­lems with kale if har­ves­ted cor­rect­ly and pre­ven­ted from wil­ting, and if kept moist and cold it will also sto­re well. The­re can be va­ri­ous in­sects ´hi­ding` in the cur­ly le­a­ves that can of­ten ap­pe­ar af­ter har­vest when ta­ken to a war­mer shop or kitc­hen en­vi­ron­ment.