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Friday, September 12, 2014 at 6:14pm
Kale has played a role in history since the day of the dinosaur—and perhaps its sweetest role has been that of a messenger of love.
“Burning that reekie mehr” took place regularly in a place called Burghead, Scotland, at Halloween in the nineteenth century, when a kale stalk filled with tobacco was carried from house to house by young men who blew smoke (or tried to) into the front door. While lads were puffing, the lassies were pulling leaves off kale in the tradition of “he loves me, he loves me not,” to see who they'd be marrying...
Leaf by leaf, the girl would call out the names of the eligible males. The name she spoke at the last leaf was her husband-to-be. Fortunately, the charm was reversible—if the young man was not to her liking, not eating the leaf would render the arrangement null and void. And, undoubtedly, no matter who the lassie eventually chose, her married life with him would be replete with growing, eating and enjoying the health benefits of kale!
—Excerpt from The Book of Kale