Kale
Familiar kale flavour, softened and a little sweeter.
At a glance
About the cultivar
Crown Cut grows Red Russian, one of the two or three cultivars that dominate commercial microgreen kale. It comes with one botanical wrinkle worth knowing: despite the everyday name, Red Russian is not a traditional kale (Brassica oleracea). It sits under Brassica napus in the Pabularia Group—the “Siberian kale” lineage, more closely related to turnips and rapeseed than to curly or lacinato kale.[1]
The variety is thought to trace back to home gardens in Russia before the late nineteenth century and to have reached North America with Russian traders. On the tray it earns its reputation for hardiness: quick germination, an even stand, deeply cut leaves with violet veining, and a noticeably softer flavour than a mature curly-kale leaf.
Flavor & look
Kale microgreens taste like mature kale with the volume turned down—still recognisably in that mild-cabbage family, but noticeably sweeter and without the bitter edge or leathery bite. Red Russian’s cotyledons (the pair of seed leaves that emerge first) are rounded and full, in a rich green with violet veining and a pink flush at the stem base.
Germination is quick, and the crop comes off the tray dense and even, which makes for tidy, restaurant-ready handfuls.
Nutrition & compounds
Kale microgreens were among the 25 species measured in Xiao et al.’s 2012 USDA-Beltsville study that established the reference vitamin and carotenoid values for commercial microgreens, and they scored high on both fronts.[2] A separate USDA-Beltsville study, published in ACS Food Science & Technology in 2022, looked specifically at broccoli and kale microgreens and found that both crops were rich in polyphenols and glucosinolates, with individual compound levels varying considerably between windowsill-grown and growth-chamber-grown trays.[3]
About glucosinolates
Like all brassicas, kale carries a family of compounds called glucosinolates—the source of the peppery, sulphurous notes that run across broccoli, radish, cabbage, and mustard. In the living leaf they sit apart from the enzyme myrosinase, but when the tissue is chewed or bruised the two combine to produce isothiocyanates and related breakdown products, which have been the focus of ongoing research interest across the Brassicaceae.[4]
From seed to harvest
Kale microgreens germinate in 1 to 2 days and are cut at 8 to 12 days from sowing, before the first true leaves emerge—the cotyledon stage that defines a microgreen (versus a baby green, which carries at least one set of true leaves).[5] Red Russian in particular tends to come off the tray dense and even.
How to enjoy
- Piled into a wrap or a grain bowl
- Folded into pesto in place of some of the basil for a greener, earthier version
- Stirred into a smoothie—milder than mature kale, easier to hide
- Scattered over roasted vegetables or a soft-boiled egg
- Tossed into a simple salad with lemon, olive oil, and shaved parmesan
Storage
Keep refrigerated in the original clamshell or a paper-towel-lined container. Best within 7–10 days of harvest. Rinse only right before serving—water on the leaves in storage encourages breakdown.
References & further reading
- Royal Horticultural Society. Brassica napus (Pabularia Group) ‘Red Russian’ — Siberian kale ‘Red Russian’. Plant classification and description. rhs.org.uk
- Xiao Z, Lester GE, Luo Y, Wang Q. Assessment of vitamin and carotenoid concentrations of emerging food products: edible microgreens. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2012;60(31):7644–7651. doi:10.1021/jf300459b
- USDA-ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center. Broccoli and kale microgreens’ nutrition varies with growing conditions. Reported in ACS Food Science & Technology, February 2022; open summary via ScienceDaily. sciencedaily.com
- Sun J, Xiao Z, Lin L-Z, Lester GE, Wang Q, Harnly JM, Chen P. Profiling polyphenols in five Brassica species microgreens by UHPLC-PDA-ESI/HRMSn. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2013;61(46):10960–10970. PMC open access
- Penn State Extension. The ABCs of Microgreens. extension.psu.edu
Research citations describe what published studies measured or reported. Nothing on this page is intended as medical or dietary advice; nutrient content in any given tray varies with variety, growing conditions, and harvest timing.