TUSCAN KALE (Cavello Nero)
Tuscan Kale is a great-looking heirloom vegetable from the Mediterranean (available as seedlings or from seed). Tuscan Kale has unusual, wrinkled, steel blue-grey leaves and a weeping habit, so it looks great planted in a mixed bed or in a pot. The leaves, rich in fibre as well as Vitamin A and other antioxidants, can be harvested as you need them - young leaves taste delicious in a salad, and you can cook the rest, as you would for silverbeet, blanching them for 8 minutes in salty water. Try spinach pie, pasta, soups and winter stews.

It's a great cool season crop grown through the autumn months and the frost will actually sweeten the leaves. Older leaves are tough but younger leaves are delicious, just remember remove the midrib first. Plants will last for years but become tough with age.

One or two plants per family is plenty.

RECIPE:  Kale Bruscetta
Pick 400gm of inner kale leaves, remove tough stalks and cook the greens in 2L of boiling water until they are tender, season with salt and add 2 cloves of garlic in the water. After cooking chop the garlic and kale together until you have a fine texture but not smooth. Add a tablespoon of each chopped capers, gherkins, shallots, black olives, parsley, and season. Cut fresh bread into pieces, drizzle with olive oil, a dollop of mascapone and top with Kale mixture.

(thanks to De Kas & Sarah Raven)