Why I Can’t Say I Hate Kale Anymore

We grow TONS of kale. This used to be my least favorite crop — until this week.

I hate kale.

Am I allowed to say that as a farmer’s wife?

Yes, I hate kale.

Well… actually that’s not true anymore.

Which is why I’m writing today’s blogpost.

Something shifted this week.

I had an “a-ha” moment.

I’m not supposed to admit that there are some veggies I don’t really like. I’m the CSA farmer after all, charged with getting my customers excited about “growing their veggie palette,” and believing that every item we grow in our fields has potential in your kitchen.

But if I’m honest… there are things we grow that aren’t my favorite. (Radishes are another one).

Like most CSA members, I hate wasting food. And I hate feeling guilty that I can’t “get into” all the veggies we sell — makes me feel like a hypocrite.

And so, when my CSA box shows up  certain weeks with kale (or beet greens or radish greens), I grimace, and try to put my “game-face” on.

But this past week, everything changed.

My pasta dish I threw together had a couple cubes of frozen kale. 

In case you haven’t been paying attention, I’m in the middle of my “30-Day Freezer Challenge.” Every day for 30 days, I’m challenging myself to use ONE item from my freezer in a meal for my family. The goal is to highlight all the ways you can freeze your produce (and make it last all winter long).

To my dismay, one of the items in my freezer was a giant bag of frozen kale.

I had blanched it last fall as a desperate attempt to delay what the heck I was going to do with it.

“Freeze it!” I thought. “Then figure it out later in the winter.”

Well…. winter is here, and today, I decided to throw together a pasta sauce for my boys for lunch. I cooked up some noodles, then started a skillet with olive oil. I tossed in  my frozen onions, garlic, fennel, peppers, mushrooms, and yes… some cubes of blanched kale.

(I crossed my fingers!)

But here’s the absolutely amazing thing… here’s my “a-ha” moment:

I couldn’t taste the kale.

OH MY GOSH!! How awesome is that!!? I just consumed kale with all its nutritional goodness, and I didn’t notice its “off-bitter-taste” that it usually carries when it’s raw.

I tasted nothing.

THIS is a victory in itself!

Because now I know how to eat my kale. I don’t have to waste it anymore!

(Trust me: throw it in a spaghetti sauce or pasta dish — and you’ve just gotten all the benefits and none of the off-taste.)

Moral of the story: veggies taste different depending on how they’re prepared.

If you’re not a fan of greens in their “raw” form (like arugula, beet greens, collards, kale, broccoli leaves, mesclun mix) — try freezing them to “hide” later in a quick quiche, pasta, or soup.

Not sure how to blanch greens?

I made a quick cheatsheet you can access below, as well as a video tutorial on YouTube that teaches you how to “blanch” greens like kale for long-term freezer storage.

These skills are the things we teach to our CSA members to help them succeed at enjoying all the different kinds of veggies we give them in their box each week.

So my apprentice… if you hate kale too… my advice to you is learn the art of blanching greens.

I think it might just change your culinary world.

It did for me.