'Kale' is a Foreign Leafy Green Vegetable

By Sumati Bhardwaj | Category: Food | 09-12-2021

Consuming green leafy vegetables is essential for maintaining a healthy body as they are rich in fiber, iron, vitamins, and many other nutrients. During the winter season, while local leafy greens like spinach, fenugreek, bathua, and dill are easily available, many foreign green vegetables have also become quite common. "Kale" is one such foreign leafy green vegetable that is now seen in Indian markets, but very few people might know about it. So let's learn in detail about the leafy green vegetable "Kale".

What is Kale?

You will be surprised to know that a few decades ago, kale leaves were used for decoration with flowers, especially in foreign countries like America. However, when it was first used in a salad, it became so famous among the people of America, China, Spain, and Mexico as a delicious leafy green vegetable in the form of salads, soups, smoothies, chips, and fritters, that today it is called the favorite green vegetable of foreigners, just as spinach and mustard greens are called here.

Since kale belongs to the cabbage family, its leaves are large, somewhat like broccoli and cabbage leaves. However, their color is dark green or a light pinkish deep purple. It comes in two types: common, with straight leaves, and curly, with ruffled leaves. The leaves of both types of kale are smooth, fibrous, and have thick stalks.

Kale is beneficial for health

Kale, which falls into the category of green leafy vegetables, is a food item so full of nutrients along with its taste that it would be no exaggeration to call it a powerhouse of nutritional properties. It is so rich in vitamins A, K, C, B-12, B-6, as well as vitamin E, calcium, iron, protein, fiber, and antioxidants that with its regular consumption, you can nourish your body in every way, making it healthy and disease-free.

  1. Being rich in fiber, it keeps the digestive system so healthy that it works like a panacea even for the most stubborn constipation. Therefore, if you have stomach-related problems or constipation due to diabetes, it will not only solve your digestive issues but its anti-diabetic properties will also be beneficial for diabetes.
  2. Kale contains many times more calcium than milk, which is very essential for the bone growth of growing children and for keeping the bones of a healthy person strong and healthy. Along with calcium, the vitamin K and vitamin D present in it also help in healing weak, eroded, and broken bones. Considering the abundant amount of calcium found in it, it is widely used in "baby foods" abroad.
  3. The dark green leaves of kale are rich in iron, which not only protects against anemia but also helps in providing necessary nutrition and strength to the body.
  4. Antioxidants greatly help in strengthening the body's immune system. Kale is a food item rich in antioxidants, by consuming which you can make your body healthy and free from infections.
  5. The abundant vitamins, proteins, iron, fiber, and antioxidants present in kale not only nourish the skin and hair but also help in relieving physical stress and fatigue.

How to use Kale

Since kale is completely new to us, it is very important to know how to use it in our food.

  1. You can easily include kale in vegetarian or non-vegetarian meals by lightly steaming it or sautéing it lightly with garlic in a little oil.
  2. You can also eat raw kale leaves by washing them thoroughly and chopping them into a salad.
  3. You can use kale leaves along with other vegetables while making soup.
  4. Kale leaves can also be used with fruit juices, or you can make and drink the juice of only kale leaves.
  5. Kale leaves can also be used in fruit smoothies. A kale-infused smoothie is not only extremely beneficial for health but also helps in keeping the body weight under control because the fiber present in it does not let you feel hungry for a long time.
  6. Abroad, chips and fritters are also made from kale leaves, which are healthier than potato chips.