Credit: Daniel Callen films for videography and Ballymaloe cookery school

What is sea kale?

Sea kale is a long-lived perennial plant that grows naturally around our coasts near the shoreline. Its leaves look like kale and are delicious in spring, but they can become quite tough and fibrous later in the season. You can eat the fruiting head which is like a purple sprouting broccoli that tastes exactly like the classic broccoli we are all used to. It can also be forced like rhubarb (by excluding the light) resulting in delicate pale yellow stalks. A seasonal treat as delicious as asparagus.

We also need to be very conscious of it being over harvested in the wild. So encourage farmers to grow it instead!