Kale chips

On the farm I was recently trained in the art of harvesting kale.  Since it was just practice and this kale had no market destination I was able to take it home to enjoy myself.  I ended up with two full produce sacks with a mix of three different varieties of kale.

Kale is a hardy cool season green (as evidence by the fact that I was doing this harvesting in January) that is mostly used in soups and stews.  It can be used in salad mixes though some people find it to have too overpowering of a flavor.  To me it mostly tastes like broccoli, so mixed in with a salad is just fine.

With so much kale on hand I knew I'd need to find alternative ways to use it so that it wouldn't wither away in the refrigerator.  Luckily I had a bit of experience with massive amounts of kale since I had planted a full row in the garden of LJ's parents last spring.  Over the summer when we visited them I had harvested a bunch of kale to make kale chips for an upcoming party.

Making kale chips is a pretty straight forward process involving cutting the stems out of the leaves, tossing greens with oil and seasoning, and baking in the oven.  Through trial and error I found that a lower temperature oven and a longer cooking time produced more consistent results and the chips were much less likely to burn.

I don't snack on kale chips the same way I do potato chips or crackers.  The drying process seems to intensify the bitterness of the kale so it makes it difficult to eat a larger number.  However if you are looking for a little crisp, salty snack, they are very satisfying.