Just another pro-kale post: it really is *that* good for you
August 13, 2021 • Zack Andrade
When we started BoomVeg, we knew we’d have to include kale among our veggie powder lineup.
Gahhhhh, you moan. Enough with the kale already.
Here’s the thing. For as much as veggie pundits may declare kale’s glory days over, the truth is, kale really is superfood royalty. When you look at kale’s nutritional value, it’s hard to deny. It has outrageously high levels of lutein, a xanthophyll that supports eye health and combats macular degeneration. One cup of kale has five times your daily requirement of Vitamin K, which supports healthy bone tissue and helps prevent osteoporosis. It’s packed with glucosinolates, which are associated with a decreased risk of cancer and might even suppress the growth of tumors and the spread of cancer cells. It’s also high in folate, which supports a healthy pregnancy.
And yet, when we eat fresh kale, we’re told to beat it up, massage its leaves and then dress it heavily to choke it down. Rarely is kale the star of the show; even when we’re feeling virtuous by adding kale to a green drink, it always takes a backseat to the flavors of veggies like celery and cucumbers.
Why we say kale yes
As a vegetable powder company, we look at the nutritional value and relatively mild flavor of kale, and see a winning combo. We make sure that how we grow it, harvest it and gently dry it protects all those nutrients, flavors and colors. We never try to mask them or mitigate their natural characteristics with artificial sweeteners, flavorings or dressings.
Like all our powders, we harvest kale at peak freshness and keep it under refrigeration the entire time until it’s ready to be juiced down and dehydrated. All of that is important to keep the kale tasting and looking the freshest, without any off-odors, flavors or colors. The drying process does change the kale though, obviously, and we really like the results. Drying takes off any harsh corners that might be a turnoff for people who don’t like vegetables. It’s not unlike seafood: if you’ve had a bad experience with smelly fish, you’re likely reluctant to give fish a try again, even though good fish shouldn’t hammer your olfactory system. We especially don’t want to stamp kids with a lifelong aversion to vegetables, so we’re careful to keep earthiness and bitterness in check in our BoomVeg Kids Blend, made of kale, beets and celery.
Growing kale is like raising a child
Similar to beets, we grow a number of varieties of kale throughout the year. I’m a sucker for great plant variety names, and kale has some doozies: Rogue, Siberian, Afro, Winterbor, Darkibor are just a handful of the varieties we work with. They’re carefully selected by seed breeders — which just goes to show that kale should never be relegated to wingman or shotgun status. These varieties are specially chosen.
Kale isn’t overly difficult to grow, but it needs close attention and constant monitoring. It doesn’t like to be stressed. It’s sort of like the Goldilocks of leafy greens: it can’t be too wet, too dry, too hot or too cold. Because if you don’t watch your kale, it might decide to reproduce and push out a flower, which hogs the energy we want for production of healthy leaves. The kale plant’s job is to produce more kale plants; as agriculturalists, our job is to shepherd and shape that plant to produce the most edible nutrition for the human body as we can. Just like having kids, you have to be there every day. You can’t phone it in.
Always Root-to-Shoot
Since kale has so many uses, it lends itself to being prepared in lots of different ways. A lot of times, recipes call for separating the backbone or “rib” from the leaves. When folks juice kale, though, they use the entire stalk and leaf. For our powders, we use the entire plant to ensure we’re benefitting from all that nutrition in the rib and the leaves. As always, we subscribe to the “Root-to-Shoot” philosophy where all edible portions of the plant are used, wasting nothing.
Our use of steam technology for drying the kale helps to preserve all the wonderful nutritional attributes of the stem and the leaves. Heat degrades any material: the hotter it gets, the more it degrades. Steaming is a gentle middle-of-the-road approach that balances preservation of the plant material with the validated kill step necessary to protect our customers’ health and well-being. The result is filler-free, totally pure kale powder.
How I use BoomVeg kale powder
Of course, kale powder is a no-brainer in a green drink. I also love to slip it into my kids smoothies, because every two teaspoons I give them equates to half a pound of fresh kale. I also really like using kale powder as part of a rub when I barbecue chicken or pork.
The responses we’re getting from customers who try BoomVeg kale are pure enjoyment and gratitude. We’re grateful for you, too.
Now, please pass the kale.
— From the Spinaca Farms blog