Crambe maritima - Seeds of Sea Kale

Sea Kale, in Latin Crambe maritima, is a wild and perennial close relative of the biennial cabbage from our vegetable gardens. It grows wild on oceanic coasts, where it is rare, and this decorative and delicious kale also has a place in our gardens. It prefers stony or sandy, very well-drained but not arid soil. This plant is charming with its beautiful bluish-grey, frilly foliage and abundant, ivory-white, nectar-rich spring flowering with a sweet honey scent.

This sea kale, sometimes called Chourbe, is native to Western Europe, found from Sweden and Russia to Portugal, passing through France. It grows wild on the pebbles of the beaches of Normandy, here and there in the sands and gravels of the coast of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean, from Pas-de-Calais to Morbihan, where it is now strictly protected. It is a very perennial plant, with a lifespan that can reach or exceed 20 years. Its perfect growing conditions are a very sunny exposure, a cool and humid maritime climate, a rather basic (chalky) and rocky soil, very poor in organic matter (soil, compost), but rich in mineral elements. Like all kales, it belongs to the Brassicaceae family, formerly known as Cruciferae. It is a hardy plant (-20°C), quite easy to grow in gardens with well-drained soil.

Sea Kale develops from a thick and woody crown from which crested, violet young shoots emerge, unfolding into large rounded and fleshy leaves, very wavy at the edges and covered with a bluish bloom. An aged clump can reach a height of 60-70 cm in flower (40 cm for the foliage), with a spread at least equivalent. It is the young leaves that are edible, especially when "blanched" by sheltering them from light with mulch or a terracotta bell. This pretty vegetation persists in winter. The plant flowers generously from May to July, depending on the climate. Numerous floral stems emerge from the clump of foliage. They bear a few small leaves at the base and branch out into panicles at their ends. Each rather dense panicle is adorned with white to pinkish flowers with 4 petals, rather large and pleasantly scented. This flowering, with its sweet honey scent, is rich in nectar and attracts many pollinating insects. It is followed by round, yellowish fruits called siliques, containing seeds that can be harvested and easily sown in March-April, after being exposed to cold for 2 to 3 months.

In the kitchen:

All parts of the Sea Kale are edible, their flavour is slightly different from that of garden kale. The leaves are consumed before flowering, and the flower buds can be eaten raw or cooked. The blanched young shoots (petioles) are used in English cuisine, their delicate flavour is reminiscent of cardoon and asparagus. The roots are rich in starch and sugar and can be consumed cooked.

In the garden:

Sea Kale is a star plant for a sunny rockery with moist soil. Plant it among some large stones in a gravel bed where it will be the only thing visible in winter. Its strong personality does not prevent it from mingling in mixed borders with ground-cover roses, perennial or shrubby salvias, daylilies, and heathers. The quite accommodating sea kale is spectacular in fertile and fresh garden soil like the vegetable garden, but it often ages less well there.