Kale is the World's Healthiest Vegetable

Getting excited about kale didn't happen for me as naturally as it did with most other fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market. Until recently, I've always just skipped over those big beautiful leaves while making my way toward the more familiar realm of butter lettuce or arugula.

For many of us, our first encounter with the plant was being told, "The green frill is just a garnish, you don't have to eat that part." Surprisingly, kale is a whole lot more than just a garnish, or a bland green vegetable you have to cook to death in order to digest. Amazingly, it's considered to be the most nutritious vegetable in the world. This means it's loaded with anti-cancer antioxidants, vitamins, calcium, and sulforphane, a very potent cancer-fighting chemical. And contrary to popular belief, kale can actually be very delicious eaten raw, you just have to massage it a little. That's right, massage!

With my head buzzing with various kale recipes my friends had told me about— kale chips, massaged mango kale salad, kale slaw, sauteed kale— I made my way to the market and found out yet another awesome fact about kale: It's one of the most affordable veggies at the market. At the Saturday Scotts Valley Market or the Downtown Market on Wednesdays, you can buy a giant bunch of kale for $1.50 - $2. Now, I am really excited about kale.

Route 1 Farms grows dino kale, green kale, and red curly kale, while Live Earth Farm is bringing Red Russian kale, and green kales.

"Dino Kale is probably the most popular. It's dark green and bumpy, almost what you'd imagine dinosaur skin to look like. It's an heirloom kale from Italy," says David Pew of Route 1 Farms.

The dino kale, also known as Lacinato kale, also has a slightly thicker skin, and Pew recommends using it in soups, steamed or sauteed with a little butter or olive oil and garlic or shallots. 

You can also eat any kind of kale raw in a salad if you take a few minutes to prepare the leaf. 

"Kale has a bit of a fibrousness with it that's hard to digest, so what you do is bruise it first, kind of massage it with the dressing, or you could even put it in a tupperware container and shake it around," says Pew. "The act of bruising it tenderizes it."

Massaging a vegetable before devouring it is an appealing thought, so I decided to try it. I purchased two bunches of red russian kale—a pretty oak shaped leaf of purple and green—from Live Earth Farm and got busy with an enticing recipe for . The recipe is simple, a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice, massaged into kale which should be cut into ribbons. A good way to do this is to strip the greens from the tough stems, and roll them up like a cigar for an easy cut. Add diced mango and "pepitas," or pumpkin seeds, and voilá, you have yourself a super healthy and refreshing summer salad.

Another way to eat kale is to make "kale chips," by baking them on a cookie sheet with a little salt and olive oil. One of my friends goes cross-eyed with pleasure when she talks about these healthy chips. There is also an extensive list of recipes on the Live Earth Farm website. Check it out!

The good news is that kale likes a cool and wet environment, and luckly it grows in Santa Cruz year round, which is pretty rare. This gives you all year to explore new recipes with the world's healthiest veggie without even denting your bank account. 

How do you eat your kale? Tell us in the comments!