Kale is so much more than a trendy superfood, boring salad base, or wasteful It's a wonderfully versatile, flavor-packed vegetable that can play a starring role in a wide variety of delicious dishes, from sandwiches to soups to pizza. What's more, the leafy green brassica comes in many distinct varieties with a wide range of flavor profiles, textures, and use cases. Some are sweet and delicate, perfect for enjoying in raw salads, while others are bitter and fibrous, and ideal for cooking down in a hearty stir fry or stew.
With well over 100 known types of kale and lots of overlapping terminology, determining what kind of kale you're working with (and how best to use it) can be more than a little confusing. Curly kale Curly kale is the most iconic and widely available variety, at least in the United States. When you think of kale, you probably imagine curly kale's dense, dark green, frilly leaves.
. In fact, curly kale is one of the most bitter kale varieties, so if you think you don't like kale but have only tried the curly kind, you may want to branch out and give some other varieties a try. While it can be consumed raw in salads or smoothies, many prefer to cook curly kale to tone down its strong flavor and texture.
Additionally, its sturdy, tightly packed leaves can soak up -– and stand up to –- lots of delicious sauces and seasonings (especially after a nice little ). Curly kale is the perfect base for anything from a comforting, flavor-packed winter stew to a savory .