Kale flower shoots (aka florets, raab, buds) are one of my favourite spring garden delights. They’re tender like asparagus, deep green, and a little sweet. I like to fry/baste them in a little tamari and olive oil, or drop them into the pan right after the bacon comes out (cover quickly or get spattered with bacon fat!) and serve them with bacon and eggs and toast for brunch! Yum!
There are many types of kale, but in our coastal BC climate Red Russian Kale and its various natural crosses do best. You never find this kale variety in the store because, while it is unparalleled for sweetness, tenderness, vigour and tastiness, it does not ship or “hold” well; it needs to be eaten straight out of the garden.
Red Russian kale is perfect for the food forest garden because it self seeds prolifically, it’s opportunistic and finds purchase in any small bit of exposed soil or even mulch, and it will tolerate some shade. It fits nicely into our successional mixed canopy beds, and bees and other insects LOVE the flowers.
Kale is a biennial, meaning it grows in the first year, then sets seed and dies in the second year. I collect fistfuls of seed each summer/fall and sow it liberally. I like to get it growing early in the season so it has a chance to get big and strong for overwintering. Of course the first plants up in the spring are usually the self-seeded ones from the previous fall.
Kale leaves taste best after frost and can be harvested periodically throughout the cool shoulder seasons, although the youngsters can be cut small and added to spring salads.
This time of year (May) it’s fun to try and keep up with harvesting the flower shoots before they burst into flower. To harvest, snap them off as far down as the stalk remains tender. They’ll grow new seed shoots within a couple days. I do like to leave a couple robust plants alone to set seed undisturbed.