# Broccoli, Kale, or Spinach? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784 "2020-08-22T23:48:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/61 "2020-08-24T14:26:30Z")
Kale is fashionable to hate, but I don’t understand what kind of kale are you eating that you have to chew it for half an hour? One of the world’s great soups is the Portuguese _caldo verde_, which is based on kale and sausage. Nothing chewy about it. I’ve had plenty of salads with kale as the main green, and it’s never felt that rough to me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/62 "2020-08-24T14:27:09Z")
I love all three, and have never gotten the kale hate. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/63 "2020-08-24T14:31:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Kale is fashionable to hate, but I don’t understand what kind of kale are you eating that you have to chew it for half an hour? One of the world’s great soups is the Portuguese _caldo verde_, which is based on kale and sausage. Nothing chewy about it. I’ve had plenty of salads with kale as the main green, and it’s never felt that rough to me. I’ve made Portuguese kale and sausage soup. It’s delicious. But raw kale is jaw-breaking for me. I don’t enjoy the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/64 "2020-08-24T14:45:14Z")
Obligatory _New Yorker_ link: ['"It's broccoli, dear."--"I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it." - New Yorker Cartoon' Premium Giclee Print - Carl Rose | Art.com](https://www.art.com/products/p15063414487-sa-i6847819/carl-rose-it-s-broccoli-dear-i-say-it-s-spinach-and-i-say-the-hell-with-it-new-yorker-cartoon.htm) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/65 "2020-08-24T14:58:17Z")
I had one of the nicest salads in my life where the main ingredient was kale - at Frances, in San Francisco. I think the key with kale is to get it young, when the leaves are tender. Too much of the supermarket stuff is tough and bitter, at least where I live. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/66 "2020-08-24T15:19:26Z")
Kale is also sweeter and nicer IMHO if you pick it right after a light frost. That’s what my Dutch friends would do and it would make the kale taste sweeter. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/67 "2020-08-24T15:34:15Z")
As long as they’re cooked, I like them all, but would probably go with broccoli. Uncooked, I wouldn’t want any of them. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/68 "2020-08-24T18:14:23Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > > > The only time I’ve had kale was in [stuffed ham](https://www.visitmaryland.org/article/southern-maryland-stuffed-ham-recipe) > > That’s the only way I have ever found kale to be even mildly palatable(I’m an old South’un Merlin boy myself). Pardon the hijack, but whereabouts? I’m between Mechanicsville and Leonardtown. Grew up in Baltimore county, but spousal unit and I settled here 16 years ago and we’re lovin’ it! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/69 "2020-08-24T18:32:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Try peeling the stems. I think the heart of the stem might be my favorite part, but the skin can be tough and woody. Correct. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/70 "2020-08-24T21:24:43Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Pardon the hijack, but whereabouts? I’m between Mechanicsville and Leonardtown. Grew up in Baltimore county, but spousal unit and I settled here 16 years ago and we’re lovin’ it! The old stomping grounds of my youth were mostly from Prince Frederick north to Annapolis, but I know(knew) Leonardtown and Lexington Park well. I haven’t been there since the mid-eighties, so a thing or two might have changed 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/71 "2020-08-24T21:57:02Z")
A thing or two have changed since we’ve been here! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/72 "2020-08-25T05:18:24Z")
I absolutely love broccoli, but only the top parts. Fortunately, grocery stores have these steamer bags of only the top parts, so I don’t have to be wasteful buying regular ol’ broccoli and tossing the stems. Kale was a frequent side dish at the dinner table when I was a kid. I liked it well enough. I am still wary of spinach, even though I’ve bought the occasional chicken florentine frozen dinner and thought it was at least pretty decent. If you have an initial bad impression of a food, sometimes it can be awfully tough to change your mind. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/73 "2020-08-25T17:24:44Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Kale is one of those vegetables that you chew for half an hour and then realize that was only one forkfull. Raw it is like tyvec, cooked it is slime. Unfortunately, unlike spinach you can not wilt it slightly, it goes from tyvec to slime in a nanosecond. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/74 "2020-08-25T18:48:25Z")
Spinach slightly ahead of broccoli (too many Popeye cartoons, perhaps) and way, way ahead of kale. I can’t give you anything but kale, baby That’s the only thing on sale, baby - Roz Chast ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/75 "2020-08-25T21:41:47Z")
> [@putnam6](#): > > Good collards are hard to beat, but I like all 3 with kale being me least favorite. An interesting position, given that collards and kale are basically the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/76 "2020-08-25T21:58:12Z")
Broccoli ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/77 "2020-08-26T00:33:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@putnam6](#): > > > > Good collards are hard to beat, but I like all 3 with kale being me least favorite. > > An interesting position, given that collards and kale are basically the same thing. No they’re not. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/78 "2020-08-26T01:28:24Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > No they’re not. I’ll say they’re not, in neither taste nor texture. Maybe the dark green color is similar in collards and kale but other than that, they’re about as alike as apples and avocados. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/79 "2020-08-26T02:25:10Z")
He’s right in the sense that that are both the same genus and species: brassica olecerea. On the other hand cultivars of B. olecerea include kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, brussels sprouts, etc, so there’s a _huge_ range of very closely related plants for that genus and species. Much more closely related than apples and avocados, which aren’t even in the same family or order, much less genus or species. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784/80 "2020-08-26T02:29:16Z")
I’m sure there’s an overlap in a Venn diagram that accounts for the different variety of factors affecting the flavor and texture of both kale and collard greens. I’d readily use one or the other in a number of recipes. But then I’m not an antikalite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broccoli-kale-or-spinach/918784.md?page=5)