24 June 2019 Kale

[Durgan]

24 June 2019 Kale
Posted on June 24, 2019 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2019/June 2019/24 June 2019 Kale/HTML/ 24 June 2019 Kale
First harvest of kale from my four plants. It is cut from the bottom up and produces until frost. It is grown instead of spinach, since it is everbearing. The tough leaf spine is removed before steam cooking for 20 minutes. It is a pleasant tasting vegetable. No insects attack the plant in my garden.

 

[Ctilly]

Looks great!! Do you find that it bolts in hot weather? I planted some in early spring and had a great harvest and am wondering if I’ll need to replant in late July for an autumn harvest? Does it get hot there? We are about to enter mid-80s/low 90s.

 

[Durgan]

I find it doesn't bolt even in our hot weather if I keep it cut. I cut the bottom leaves often or even break them of if not using. I juice it. Too early so far this year.
19 June 2018 Garden Juice (kale,parsley,basil,romaine)
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2018/June 2018/19 June 2018 Garden Juice/HTML/ 19 June 2018 Garden Juice
Some garden produce was ready for preserving. This is the first for the 2018 season. The produce was kale,basil,parsley and romaine lettuce. A total of 5634 grams was processed and pressured canned in 16 liter jars. Kale 1568, Basil 354, Parsley 81, Romaine 3851.
The Process is: Collect and wash, place in a cooking pot with sufficient water to make drinkable, cook until soft, hand blend into a slurry, strain through a 2 mm mesh food mill, the residue from the food mill put through a Champion juicer to extract nutrients, place in liter jars and pressure can at 15 PSI for 15 minutes. This is my standard method of processing plant material.

 

[headfullofbees]

Here in the UK it is attacked by whitefly, slugs, woodpigeons and magpies, so, since it is hardy enough, I grow it only as a winter veg.
It's delicious, as your drink looks.
My seedlings are about 1/2" tall, and those that survive go in approx. three weeks from now. I usually grow nine to a dozen plants.

 

[Ctilly]

Mine gets attacked by cabbage worms often and so I do spray with Bt. I think I’ll try to keep it cut back often as suggested by Durgan. Just hope it doesn’t get bitter during the high temps. I love having kale we add it to smoothies, eat kale salad or sautée it. Never juiced it or even considered canning juice. Interesting idea...

 

[Durgan]

Mine gets attacked by cabbage worms often and so I do spray with Bt. I think I’ll try to keep it cut back often as suggested by Durgan. Just hope it doesn’t get bitter during the high temps. I love having kale we add it to smoothies, eat kale salad or sautée it. Never juiced it or even considered canning juice. Interesting idea...

Pressure canning all and sundry is my main preservation method. I ingest a liter per day of mixed juices. I can around four hundred liters during the growing season. Four kale pants are adequate for my requirements.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Storage idea for kale

 

[Ctilly]

Durgan, Was thinking about what you do with your extra kale. Why do you cook it instead of just running it through the juicer? Do you find when you drink the juice in the winter the taste stays ok? Or taste deteriorates over time?

 

[Durgan]

Experience. For a number of years my juice was mostly raw and kept fresh in the refrigerator. It was consumed prior to spoiling.

Then I started growing many products and had access to all and sundry locally and the sheer volume dictated a better method to obtain long term preservation. I knew a bit about pressure cooking and by experimenting found I could pressure can almost anything. I found the taste and texture for all products to be constant and preferable to raw processing. The taste and texture does not change over time. It made my preservation free of using only local in season produce. I ingest a liter of juice daily and find pressure canned is superior to raw in that the nutrients seem to be absorbed more readily by the body.

I have around 400 liters of all kinds of produce, fresh prepared. For amusement I call it Durgan's Preservation Method.