The Best Kale for Soup: Lacinato aka Tuscan aka Dinosaur Kale - Laurie Constantino (2024)

FAQs

The Best Kale for Soup: Lacinato aka Tuscan aka Dinosaur Kale - Laurie Constantino? ›

Lacinato kale is just right for soup because it doesn't disintegrate or fall apart if cooked for a long time. Even after it's reheated, kale retains its integrity. Its earthy-but-sweet flavors blend well with beans, a highly desirable soup ingredient. Besides tasting good, Lacinato kale is good for you.

Lacinato Kale (also known as Dinosaur or Tuscan Kale): This type of kale has long, flat, dark green leaves and a sweeter, milder flavor than curly kale. It is also known for its tender texture, which makes it ideal for soups.

(aka Dinosaur, Nero di Toscana) Italian kale which reportedly dates back to the 18th century. Blue-green strap-like leaves are 3" wide by 10-18" long with a heavily savoyed texture. Excellent flavor that is enhanced by frost. Best eaten when leaves are small and tender.

Lacinato kale is a favorite variety among kale amateurs and fanatics alike. It is also known as Tuscan kale or “dinosaur” kale because its bumpy leaves have a seemingly reptilian appearance. Flavor: More delicate with a slightly sweet nuttiness and less bitterness than curly leaf kale.

Dinosaur kale goes by a number of names, including dino kale, Tuscan kale, lacinato kale, black kale, and cavolo nero (Italian for "black cabbage").

Plus, one study that compared eight kale cultivars found that Tuscan kale was highest in carotenoid compounds, including neoxanthin, lutein, and beta carotene, all of which have significant antioxidant activity (4). Unlike some other types of kale, lacinato is tender, which makes it ideal to use raw in salads.

Tuscan Kale aka Lacinato Kale aka Dinosaur Kale

This is the kale we love to cook—and not cook—the most. It has a deeper color and is slightly thinner and more tender than curly kale, making it more versatile—it cooks more quickly and requires less massaging for use in raw preparations.

Usage. To eat raw, massage the leaves with lemon juice or dressing, then toss in a salad. Or, pan-cook with olive oil and garlic.

Health Benefits

A single serving (one cup) contains more than a day's worth of vitamin A requirement, which is important for eye health and immune function. It is also full of vitamins K, C, and B6 as well as manganese, copper, calcium, and magnesium.

But it is the extra-tender, milder-tasting leaves of the Brassica napus kales — the Russo-Siberian ones, mostly from Northern Europe and Northern Asia — that Mr. Still calls “the best of the best.” Red Russian and Siberian are the two best known to gardeners. Napus types are especially good for salads.

What does Tuscan kale taste like? ›

Tuscan Kale

This kale has longer spear-like leaves with a pebbled appearance and a dark, mottled green color. Its flavor is deep and earthy — it's less bitter than curly leafed, with an almost-nutty sweetness.

Steaming is a better option than boiling because you don't lose as many nutrients with this cooking method, according to Gray. “You're not giving it heat treatment for very long, so it's closest to raw that you can get and you still are cooking it to some degree,” she said.

Also called Tuscan, Dinosaur, or Black Kale, Lacinato is the easiest to handle and quickest to cook thanks to its small, crinkled leaves.

Cutting the stems crossways shortens the fibres, much as with a tough steak, making them perfectly edible and preventing waste. Cut this way, the stems can be cooked in the same way as the rest of the leaf: sauteed, boiled or steamed.

A biennial (2-year) plant, kale produces leaves in the first year, and then, in the next year (or sometimes late in the first year), it will form a flower stalk. The stalk forms flowers and then seeds. Once the seeds mature, the plant dies.

Kale leaves can also be massaged with a little olive oil. Adding salt and squeezing lemon make a big difference by removing bitterness. Adding some spicy or sweet flavors may help tame the strong flavor of bitter kale. For example, tossing in some dried fruit helps balance the bitter with some sweet.

Red kale is often considered the sweetest kale, which makes it perfect for eating raw. Another great option? Using it in juices, smoothies, and salads — just massage and soften the leaves with your hands to break down the fiber and make it easier for digestion, says Torchia.

While kale is popular because of it's sturdy and strong leaves, it's possible to have greens that are stiff and make salads, soups, and smoothies hard to chew (and taste bitter!). However, there is a way to tenderize kale: by massaging it!

Olivia's Organics Baby Kale offers all the flavor and nutritional benefits of its full-grown kale counterpart, but its leaves are more tender and it cooks more quickly. That makes it an ideal healthy addition to salads and cooked recipes as well as a standout side dish.