To Blanch Sea Kale

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top 1000Wild Food
Wild Food

By Roger Phillips

Published 1986

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This is really for those who live near the sea. During March, as the sea kale puts out its first leaves, cover the total plant so that no light can get to it. This is easier than it sounds as sea kale is usually found in deep shingle. In two weeks if the weather is mild, and if you can find your hidden plant again, you will be able to unearth or unshingle it and collect the long white leaf stems with tiny leaf ends.

Jane Grigson, in her Vegetable Book, bewails the failure of the British to make the most of what she refers to as the ‘English contribution to the basic treasury of the best vegetables’.