SEA-KALE. 
101 
SEA-KALE. 
Cramba maritima .— Chou Marii\ Fr.— Meerkolil , Ger. 
The sea-kale grows spontaneously on many parts of the sea-coast cf Great 
Britain. The inhabitants watch when the shoots begin to push up the sand 
and gravel, in March and April, when they cut off the young shoots and 
leaf-stocks, then blanched and tender, and boil them as greens. 
Use .— 4 * The young spring shoots and the stalks of the unfolding leaves, 
blanched by rising through the natural ground in a wild state, or. by earthing 
up in gardens, are the parts used; and, when boiled, and dressed like aspa¬ 
ragus, are not inferior to that vegetable. They form also an excellent in¬ 
gredient in soups. Sometimes the ribs of the large leaves are peeled and 
dressed as asparagus, after the plant has ceased to send up young growths. 
By forcing, sea-kale may be had in perfection from November till May, a 
period including all the dead months of the year. It is remarked by Nicol, 
that vegetables are seldom improved by forcing, but that sea-kale forms an 
exception, the forced shoots produced at mid-winter being more crisp and 
delicate in flavor than those procured in the natural way, in April or May. 
Sir George Mackenzie, (Caled. Hort. M m. vol. i, 313,) observes, that sea- 
kale cannot easily be overdone in cooking, and that, after being well boiled, 
it should be thoroughly drained, and then suffered to remain a few minutes 
before the fire, that a further portion of moisture may be exhaled.”— Loudon. 
John Lowell, Esq., in a communication, published in the Mass. Agr. Jour¬ 
nal, says, “ It is very hardy—grows in any tolerable soil—is perennial, and 
costs not half the labor bestowed on asparagus. It may be raised from the 
seed or from the root, and fifty plants, occupying a very small space, will 
supply a single family. In its taste it resembles the cauliflower. The only 
labor it requires, is, to cover it with sand or earth, or with pots or boxes in 
March, so as to exclude the light, and to blanch it, or make it white. If not 
blanched, it is neither so beautiful to the eye, nor so tender, nor so delicate to 
the taste, as if blanched. It should be thoroughly boiled, and is better if 
boiled in milk and water. It should be served up like cauliflowers, wdth 
melted butter. It comes in at a season in which our vegetables in this coun¬ 
try are very deficient.” 
Mr. Armstrong says, ' c Tn November, w r hether your bed has been filled 
with plants or wdth seedlings, be careful to cover them with a thick coat ol 
well-rotted dung, and so soon in the spring or summer as you find them push¬ 
ing through this covering, put over each a garden-pot inverted, having first 
stopped the bottom holes. The signal for cutting is when the plants have 
alia**' about three inches above the surface.” 
