Did You Know . . . "DYK"

Read below for a fun fact kale time line:

• It's hard to say how long people have been eating Kale, but we know that it was cultivated from a wild cabbage plant. It has been cultivated for over 2,000 years, and people have been eating it in its more wild form for much longer
  
• Kale was a popular dish in Ancient Greece and Rome. The Roman Empire spread as far as Northern Africa, and the British Isles.
  
• Kale was a common dish into the Middle Ages in Europe, when headed cabbage became more popular.
• In the Scottish Isles, Kale was such a popular dish because it can grow in cold norther climates. It was so common that kitchen gardens were called Kaleyards! People would store it with salt over the winter, and even feed it to their animals.
• As mentioned above, Kale was brought to the U.S. from England in the 1700's.
• Thomas Jefferson who was an avid gardener grew several varieties of kale in the early 1800's
• In the 1940's, during World War II, Britain encouraged people to grow kale in their gardens for its "Dig For Victory" gardening Campaign.
• This information is sourced from Vermont Feed's Harvest Of the Month information.