Part of building up a diverse regional seed source, involves experimenting and trying new varieties to see what works. There’s the informal way that most growers do, of simply growing the new variety and making some observations. This is mostly how we do it too, if we’re being honest! But then there is the real way of evaluation, through a variety trial. This scientific approach allows you to compare similar varieties, usually in relation to a standard or known variety, and account for differences in conditions you may or may not be aware of, or have control over like soil quality, pests or disease occurrence, irrigation, sun exposure, edge effects etc. If you want to do this yourself sometime, Organic Seed Alliance has a great resource for learning about, and designing trials. This is how we got started in conducting trials.
This fall, bored to tears with the few kale varieties we typically grow, we wanted to explore some of the other options out there. Because kale is a biennial, it means that saving seed and creating our own local varieties is difficult, if not impossible. We look to our northern growers, that have the opportunity to breed new varieties, and steward the older and unique heirlooms. We found some really unique varieties from Adaptive Seeds and Wild Garden Seed, gathering up total of 18 varieties, and ended up putting 15 to the test.
the bat house and Lake Alice.
Our goal was to find new varieties that perform well in our climate, and have market appeal. Since we are unlikely to be able to save our own seed from these varieties, we will work with our seed partners up north who can provide us with bulk seed for the ones we love.
A beautiful collaboration with the University of Florida’s Field and Fork program allowed us to execute this trial. Working Food grew the starters at Grow Hub, UF students and volunteers designed and planted the trial with our support, and each week we recorded data, took photos, harvested, weighed, and then donated over 280 pounds of kale to the food pantry on campus, and to the workers at Grow Hub.
The season started off pretty darn warm, with record highs for the fall. The first few weeks of planting and evaluation were HOT! Eventually it cooled down a bit for a more normal fall season. One week it was in the high 80’s and the next we were plunged into freezing temperatures and wet fields. This is why biodiversity is important, to capture the varieties that can withstand the variations.
We evaluated vigor, disease and pest pressure, uniformity, leaf size, harvest weights, and taste. At our WinterFair on December 9th, we prepared a very simple raw kale salad with lemon juice and olive oil, of all 15 varieties. While this could have affected the flavor a bit, we kept it a similar ratio for all, realizing there was no way we could expect people to taste raw kale!
46 people joined in, rating the varieties on overall appearance, texture, and flavor. Flavor is a very subjective and varied observation, which is why it’s important to capture a lot of them. While one person would describe a variety as peppery and crunchy, the next would describe it as bland and slimy. But comments are like gold for us, and tell a better story than a score of 1-5.
We picked the top 5, and will investigate them in more detail with a new batch of students in the spring. Without further ado, the results!
#2- Bear Necessities
While it wasn’t particularly high scoring in vigor or uniformity, it was one of the more unique varieties, and it scored relatively well in yield despite its frilly nature, among the top 6. While it didn’t pop out in aesthetics in the taste test trial, it truly was one of the more beautiful kales in the field, with its ruffled edges, purple stems and veination. It would make a beautiful garnish that is actually edible, and add loft and aesthetic value to a salad. Several tasters described it as peppery and light.
#5- Dazzling Blue Lacinato
A unique and beautiful lacinato variety with purple stems and veins. It scored the highest for overall appearance, and did well in taste trials, despite being described as fibrous and a bit tougher than the standard lacinato. While there was some variation (some had no purple), it scored among the highest for uniformity. Although uniformity was not a priority in this project, a high degree of variability is not a particularly desirable trait for a variety, even to the home gardener that would be more accepting than a farmer needing consistency. While not as productive as the other types of kale, it was on par with the other 3 lacinato types in this trial. Because so many people have fondness for lacinato, this purple variation should be popular.
than the standard lacinato kale.
#6- Ethiopian
Ethiopian wins across the board in all categories. Ranked highest in flavor, and overwhelmingly the favorite variety in the taste trials. It had the highest vigor, uniformity, and yield. Secretly we are very happy with this result, because this has been one of our favorites for the past few years due to its vigor, flavor, and ability to produce seed in North Florida. Yay! It has a really unique growth pattern compared to other kale. It gets much taller, is multi-branching and has smaller leaves, but produces vigorously. In taste tests it was described as thick, rich, spicy, garlic, delicious, funky! Throughout the trial we would jokingly and lovingly swoon as we observed and harvested, “Oh, variety #6….”
for the win in all categories!
#13- White Russian
Among the highest scores overall with field metrics (second to Ethiopian). Among the highest ranked in flavor (even though except for Ethiopian, there wasn’t a huge spread in the results). It had good texture, and a lot of thumbs up in the taste tests.
#15 – Winter Red (a Red Russian type)
Performed well in overall field metrics, and was among the highest in yield, scored decent in taste tests. Described as spicy, nutty and with a nice zing aftertaste.
Table 1: All varieties trialed and their seed source. The only variety we really didn’t like was #1. It was beautiful but lacked vigor and yield substantially compared to the rest.
| Variety | Species | Seed Source |
| Baltic Red | Brassica oleracea | Adaptive Seeds |
| Bear Necessities | Brassica napus | Adaptive Seeds |
| Russian Frills | Brassica napus | Adaptive Seeds |
| Simone Broadleaf | Brassica napus | Adaptive Seeds |
| Dazzling Blue (European) | Brassica oleracea | Wild Garden Seed |
| Ethiopian | Brassica carinata | Southern Heritage Seed Collective |
| Lacinato ** | Brassica oleracea | Seed Savers Exchange |
| Lacinato Rainbow (European) | Brassica oleracea | Wild Garden Seed |
| Old Growth Palm (European) | Brassica oleracea | Wild Garden Seed |
| Red Ruffled (Ruso-Siberian) | Brassica napus | Wild Garden Seed |
| Red Russian** | Brassica oleracea | Seed Savers Exchange |
| Red Ursa (Ruso-Siberian) | Brassica napus | Wild Garden Seed |
| White Russian (Ruso-Siberian) | Brassica napus | Wild Garden Seed |
| Wild Red (Ruso-Siberian) | Brassica napus | Wild Garden Seed |
| Winter Red (Ruso-Siberian) | Brassica napus | Wild Garden Seed |
** standard variety to compare
Thank you so much to all the UF collaborators that tended the fields, gathered data, and crunched the numbers: Anna, James, Dina, Ethan and all their students and volunteers. Also big thanks to our Working Food crew including Sarah and Rosella that braved both heat and cold to crouch over kale for several hours.
