Topic: Chomolia

[winecap]

Just wondered whether anybody else is growing chomolia, and whether anybody knows exactly what it is! A friend gave me some shoots to plant last year and it seems to be a perennial kale. According to Wikipedia it is widely grown in Zimbabwe, and another entry said it may be related to chou moelier. Google images seemed to bring up a variety of different greens, but I was wondering whether chomolia is just another name for a variety of perpetual kale.
It certainly tastes good and will be a permanent feature on my plot from now on.

[Jayb]

I'd not heard of it before I've just had a quick google, it sounds really interesting and a doubly useful crop as it's a perennial  . I grew Highland/Ethiopian kale last year, which was nice but it was only short season.
How big a plant is it?

[Jayb]

Gavinjconway, might be one to ask about this.

[gavinjconway]

Yep here is your answer... it is a very widely grown veg and probably every household/family in the rural and farming areas grows it.

Difficult to explain but it is like a cross between kale, spinach, green leaf rape.   It has a very strong flavour and seems full of iron like spinach.  From what I can remember it just keeps on growing all year round (we had mild winters!!).

 

[goodlife]

So.... it sounds like it is (fully) hardy to grow in our climate then? It sounds VERY interesting crop indeed!!!

Do make lots and lots of cuttings from you plant when it gets big and strong enough....(wink wink)....and feel free offer some in swap section...(WINK WINK)....

[gavinjconway]

Forgot to mention that its so strong flavoured it grows hairs on your chest 

[winecap]

My plants are just under waist height at the moment and shooting in all directions. Its the new shoots which you tear off and shove in the ground. The slugs snails and pigeons strip off all the leaves while its getting established, and then it just keeps growing. I tend to eat the younger leaves, but Power, my Zimbabwean friend seems to use larger leaves.
The taste is quite strong, but not more so than most kale.
I was wondering with the English connections to Zimbabwe, whether this plant is the same as some other perennial kale people here are more familiar with. It just seems strange that this is so strongly connected to the one country and unknown elsewhere.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The way you describe the cuttings sounds just like perennial kales.

[gavinjconway]

The way you describe the cuttings sounds just like perennial kales.

Yup... similar I'm sure..

[Aidan.Radford]

My plants are just under waist height at the moment and shooting in all directions. Its the new shoots which you tear off and shove in the ground. The slugs snails and pigeons strip off all the leaves while its getting established, and then it just keeps growing. I tend to eat the younger leaves, but Power, my Zimbabwean friend seems to use larger leaves.
The taste is quite strong, but not more so than most kale.
I was wondering with the English connections to Zimbabwe, whether this plant is the same as some other perennial kale people here are more familiar with. It just seems strange that this is so strongly connected to the one country and unknown elsewhere.

It is definitely a plant tied to Zimbabwe alone, I prefer the older leaves they have a stronger taste, generally in Zimbabwe you pick the oldest leaves to encourage the plant to grow and the taste is preferred to the younger leaves. You also run into the issue of if you pick the young leaves you might stagnate the plant resulting in death.

I have failed to locate a source of seeds anywhere but from Zimbabwe itself so very specialist.

By any chance do you have any unused seeds or young plants that you would be willing to sell? I have been searching for them for quite some time but as mentioned it is a very specialist plant and no one in the UK stocks the seeds or plants.

[winecap]

As this thread has resurfaced, I thought I would add this link which has a little information relating to chomolia. Several of mine are about to flower, so I may have seeds in due course.

http://www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk/pdfs/Sowing%20New%20Seeds%20Newsletter%20March%202012.pdf

[Jayb]

Hi and Welcome to A4A Aidan.Radford.
Just to let you know offering to buy or sell items for money on the general A4A forums is not permitted. Though swapping, gifting, or sending a SAE or equivalent to cover postage is.

[Jayb]

As this thread has resurfaced, I thought I would add this link which has a little information relating to chomolia. Several of mine are about to flower, so I may have seeds in due course.

http://www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk/pdfs/Sowing%20New%20Seeds%20Newsletter%20March%202012.pdf

Excellent, I'm glad they did well for you. If you do have some spare seeds in the future, I'd be really interested in growing a few to try this interesting sounding plant 

[Aidan.Radford]

Hi and Welcome to A4A Aidan.Radford.
Just to let you know offering to buy or sell items for money on the general A4A forums is not permitted. Though swapping, gifting, or sending a SAE or equivalent to cover postage is.

Apologies, I may have been a little too excited to get hold of the seeds :). Certainly willing to cover postage.

The seed swap sounds fun, just starting a little garden myself and being from Zimbabwe I had to have some Zimbabwe Chomalia. Just an amateur affair though on my balcony. A few fruit trees and a couple of assorted vegetables until I can get a local allotment from the council. Apparently chomalia grows quite nicely, potted plant style, from what friend back home have mentioned and once the plant reaches an inconvenient heigh you can cut the top off and treat it as a cutting, starting again.