PSB is dead - long live Russian Kale

[Digeroo]

More or less a total wipeout in PSB, so picked the flower heads off the Russian Kale, very nice with butter and pepper with a fried egg on top.  I actually used saved seed which I had planted as green manure.    Grows all winter, seems to have antifreeze in its veins and the deer do not nibble it.

[Digeroo]

[goodlife]

Yep..same here..hardiest of all kales and PSB's..I'm going leave mine to flower and produce 'some' seeds..I've only got several kind of kales coming to flower now as those few PSB that survived are eaten as they grow.
I'm looking forward to trial what sort of mongrel kales I'm going to get out of 4 different kales  ;D ;D 'Watch' this space.. ;)

[pigeonseed]

I've been eating the flower buds of my (tuscan black) kale too! Waste not want not!  ;D

[valmarg]

Our sprouting broccoli didn't enjoy last winter. ???  We harvested and ate our only surviving white sprouting broccoli plant on Sunday.

valmarg

[grawrc]

I didn't know you could eat kale flowers  .. or is it just Russian kale?

[pigeonseed]

hasn't done any obvious harm so far...  ;)

[goodlife]

You can quite safely munch through any brassica flowers..some are just bit on tough side. But 'catch' them while they are still young and you cannot tell difference what sort of brassica flower you are eating ;)

[pigeonseed]

Yes I find the stalks of my kale sprouts much tougher than PSB.

[Digeroo]

The Russian Kale has very tender sprouts and flavour not bad at all.   Flowers almost opening so not particularly young, just had a quick steam.

White sprounting totally dead, just a couple of rather said looking purples.  Rather annoyingly a couple of plants I gave to someone else are doing brilliantly.

[Morris]

Pentland Brig is designed for shoots in spring as well as leaves. Tender and very good - had some for supper today, mixed in with Tundra cabbage shoots we hadn't got around to eating and that bolted.

Cavalo Nero also makes very good sprouting heads.

[Vinlander]

You can quite safely munch through any brassica flowers..some are just bit on tough side. But 'catch' them while they are still young and you cannot tell difference what sort of brassica flower you are eating ;)

All the usual suspects taste pretty similar - true - but the heads of chinese mustard have an extra delicious tang (but only if steamed, not boiled) and the heads of cress are similar but a bit stronger - particularly nice raw - better than the leaves in a salad mix.

Cheers.

[lavenderlux]

For the second year running my sprouting broccoli suffered with the cold but the Tuscan Kale has been brilliant, keeps going for ages.  I cook mine by steaming lightly.  Saving seeds is easy and you can also sow the seed thickly in a seed tray and use the very young plants as 'salad leaves'

[cornykev]

My Kale has just finished and started flowering this week, but the PSB is ready for harvesting.   ;D

[sawfish]

PSB?

[goodlife]

PSB= purple sprouting broccoli ;)

[realfood]

In my experience, the flowerbuds of all the brassicas are delicious lightly steamed, and will keep me in greens for the next few weeks.

[artichoke]

One of the few comforts of blown sprouts is waiting for them to spring up, and picking them as delicate spring greens. Mine are staying in the ground until all their flowering sprouts are over.

[George the Pigman]

Lots of wipeouts on my Brassica plot too. All but one PSB lost. Only things left were Brussel Sprouts which I pulled (interesting the comment about leaving the blown ones to sprout!) and lots of Asparagus Kale. It produced lovely shoots that I harvested yesterday.