Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables on our planet. This crop offers a rich variety of nutrients, all of which are found in large quantities in this vegetable. Kale is regularly tested for anti-cancer effect; There are now 5 types of cancer that kale is known to help against. Kale is a very popular vegetable in the US, mainly due to its new status as a superfood, which is based on the enormously high nutritional value that science has recently discovered in kale and the diverse possibilities that kale has for top chefs to enhance their culinary to show off highlights. In the US, kale is called kale or borencole. The latter word obviously comes from the Dutch kale. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

Contents

• Kale is hip, cool and trendy
• Particularly high vitamin values
• More vitamin C than in orange
• Minerals in kale
• Preparation method kale
• Kale against cancer
• Kale combats lifestyle diseases
• Kale eating tips

Kale is hip, cool and trendy

Kale is a very popular vegetable in the Netherlands and was discovered in recent years by exquisite restaurants in hip New York. There, kale was suddenly considered a trendy vegetable and people sold kale slaw, kale soup, fried kale, kale quiches and used kale as a garnish. In fact, not one dish was without kale. You can simply chop up some kale and fry it with potatoes. Kale is a super healthy vegetable that you can combine well with.

Particularly high vitamin values

There are a lot of vitamins in kale, so many that some of them contain more than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). However, that can’t hurt. The RDA values are minimum values and the maximum values above which a nutrient has negative properties are far from being achieved.

More vitamin C than in orange

We always think that fruit contains a lot of vitamin C, but kale contains much more than the same weight of orange. Furthermore, for a quarter kilo of kale, which is a normal portion for one person in a kale stew, B6 accounts for 18% of the RDA, vitamin E 11% of the RDA, vitamin B2 10% of the RDA and vitamin B1 9 % RDA. For folic acid, also called vitamin B11, 250 grams represents 8% of the RDA and for vitamin B3 the same amount of kale contains 6% of the RDA.

Minerals in kale

In addition to vitamins, kale contains a wide range of minerals. These are also found in abundance in the kale leaves. 250 grams of kale contains 52% of the RDA for manganese, 20% of the RDA for copper and 20% of the RDA for calcium. Of course, you never eat kale alone, but usually in combination with potatoes, which means that the final total level of minerals and vitamins is even considerably higher. One kale meal is enough for many nutrients. There are even more minerals in this nutritious vegetable: potassium (17% DV), iron (13% DV), magnesium (12% DV) and phosphorus (7% DV). In addition, 250 grams of kale contains 20% of the RDA for fiber and 10% of the RDA for protein.

Preparation method kale

Kale is healthiest when steamed for 5 minutes. But if you blanch the vegetable for 1 to 2 minutes, the nutritional value is almost the same as steaming it. Blanching vegetables ensures that the colour, taste, smell, bite and nutritional value are retained. You can easily eat kale raw. It is served as a garnish, a base for a salad or as one of the many leaves in a salad mix. A traditional Dutch preparation method is the kale stew.Source: Evan Amos, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Kale against cancer

There are three reasons why kale works well against cancer.

• The first is that kale is packed with antioxidants,
• the second is that kale contains anti-inflammatory substances and
• the third reason is that kale contains glucosinolates.

Glucosinolates come in all kinds of complicated names. It is important to know that glucosinolates are converted in the body into substances that help fight cancer cells. Scientific research has been conducted that has shown that kale works against bladder cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. It could also work against other types of this terrible disease, but this has not yet been investigated. There are 45 flavonoids active in kale, of which kaempferol and quercetin are the best known. These flavonoids enhance each other’s effect and the effect of beta-carotene and lutein, both of which are found in large quantities in kale.

Kale combats lifestyle diseases

The insanely high value of vitamin K in kale means that this vegetable positively influences all body processes related to inflammation at the cellular level. All kinds of lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease and obesity cause small infections in the body cells to take over, which can cause one of the diseases mentioned.

Kale eating tips

Besides eating kale in a stew, as we are used to doing in the Netherlands, you can use kale in countless ways in the kitchen. When you fry rice with various vegetables, you can also choose to mix in a handful of kale. It is an ideal leaf to eat raw in a mixed salad. Furthermore, kale is excellent for filling an omelet. Also consider making a kale cream soup. You can mix kale with nettle and spinach in a green leaf soup.