Sea kale is a robust, peppery brassica that grows wild on the coasts of rocky homes in the British Isles and the North Sea. Salt-tolerant vegetables were popular in Victorian England. In the fledgling US, Thomas Jefferson grew it with Monticello and pushed it under the pot. Today, in the United States, coastal kale is more likely to be seen in coastline landscape designs than vegetable gardens. Its crisp leaves, sturdy stems, and pepper flowers make it an exceptional vegetable.
Photo by Marie Virjon.
Plantically, the sea kale is Cranbe Marichima. It is an edible California perennial plant with upright leaves on thick medium ribs and its countless white flowers reaching decorative peaks in late spring. It is said to withstand USDA growth zone 5. Also, unlike other famous vegetable garden stubborns of the Brassicaceae family, sea kale returns every spring. Plant once. After it blooms flashy, bead-like seed pods last the plant for several weeks. (When young and tender, sea kale seeds make great pickles and hot condiments of western walladish.)
In the UK, wild sea kale is currently a protected plant and may only be collected from the coastline by permit. In the United States, it is naturalized in the Pacific Northwest and grows abundantly in rich horticultural soils.
In Monticello, Jefferson recorded seeds of sown sea kale in 1809. The first soft stems and leaves of the established plant were the sought after delicateness. To produce these pale stems, established plants were forced like rhubarb by being covered with an upwardly facing pot or straw.
Mrs. Beaton was a mid-19th century British journalist and family goddess. (Very highly regarded her influence, she passed away at the age of 28 of a postnatal infection.) Sea kale was the everyday vegetable on the menu and now has been enlightened to read. Only two of these menus were collected from Mrs. Beaton’s dictionary of daily cooking, a summary version of her Magnum Opus. It is digitized by Project Gutenberg (to find keywords in a digital file, press the command F on your desktop or laptop keyboard).
Plain Family Dinner in April
Sunday – 1. Transparent gravy soup. 2. Roasted mutton hunters, sea kale, potatoes. 3. Rubarb tart, custard glasses.
Dinner for 6 people
The first course. — Vermicelli soup. Brill and shrimp sauce. Antrees. —Vert family. Lobster cutlet. Second course. Boiled chicken; tongue; vegetables. The third course. —Gosling. Hippocampus; plum pudding; whipped cream; rhubarb compartment. Cheesecake; Dessert.
