You’re standing in the produce aisle, staring at a wall of green. It all looks like kale, but one bunch is curly and bright, another is dark and flat like a dinosaur’s skin, and there’s a purple one that looks more like a flower than dinner. Most people just grab the curly stuff and hope for the best. Big mistake. Honestly, if you’ve ever eaten a kale salad that felt like chewing on a loofah, you probably just picked the wrong variety for the job.
The reality of a types of kale chart isn't just about color. It's about texture, heat tolerance, and whether or not your jaw is going to ache by the time you finish your bowl.
The Curly Kale Standard (and Why It’s Tricky)
Curly kale is the "default." It’s what you see as a garnish on salad bars or tucked under oranges in a grocery display. Scientifically known as Brassica oleracea var. sabellica, this variety is the workhorse of the leafy green world. It’s rugged. It grows in almost any soil. But it’s also the most common reason people hate kale.
The leaves are fibrous. If you just chop this up and throw it in a bowl with some ranch, you're going to have a bad time. You've gotta massage it. Seriously. You take that curly kale, pour on some olive oil or lemon juice, and literally knead it like bread dough for three minutes. You’ll feel the cell walls break down. The color shifts from a dull hunter green to a vibrant, translucent emerald. That’s when it’s actually edible.
If you're looking at a types of kale chart for something to throw into a morning smoothie, curly is usually your best bet because it’s cheap and available everywhere. Just watch out for the stems. They are basically wood.
Lacinato: The Chef’s Favorite
You might hear this called Dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale, or Nero di Toscana. It looks prehistoric. The leaves are a deep, dark blue-green, almost black in some lights, and they don't have those frilly edges. Instead, they are puckered and bumpy.
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Lacinato is objectively better for cooking. It’s more tender than curly kale and has a slightly sweeter, nuttier profile. Since the leaves are flatter, they’re way easier to stack, roll up, and slice into thin ribbons—a technique chefs call chiffonade.
If you’re making a soup, like a traditional Italian Zuppa Toscana, this is the one you want. It holds its shape without becoming a mushy mess, but it doesn't stay as tough as the curly variety. It’s the middle ground of the kale world.
Red Russian Kale and the Sweetness Factor
This one is gorgeous. It looks like giant oak leaves with purple veins running through them. It’s actually a different species—Brassica napus—which makes it closer to a rutabaga than to the other kales.
Here’s the thing about Red Russian: it’s the most cold-hardy. Farmers love it because it can survive a literal frost. In fact, it actually tastes better after a frost because the plant starts converting its starches into sugars to keep from freezing. If you find this on a types of kale chart, remember it for raw salads. It is significantly more tender than Lacinato or Curly.
The flavor is mellow. It’s almost like a cross between spinach and cabbage. You don't have to fight it. You don't have to massage it for ten minutes. You just eat it.
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The Weird Ones: Ornamental and Walking Stick
Some kale isn't really for eating, even though it's technically edible. Ornamental kale (often sold as "flowering kale") comes in brilliant pinks, whites, and purples. It looks like a giant rose. You'll see it in landscaping. Can you eat it? Yeah. Should you? Probably not. It’s bred for color, not flavor, so it tends to be incredibly bitter and tough.
Then there’s the Walking Stick kale (Brassica oleracea longata). This thing is bizarre. It grows on a stalk that can reach six or eight feet tall. In the UK, specifically the Channel Islands, they used to dry out the stalks and turn them into actual walking sticks. You can eat the leaves, but they’re massive and pretty coarse. It’s more of a garden novelty than a culinary staple.
Navigating the Types of Kale Chart for Your Health
People talk about kale like it’s a miracle drug. It’s not, but it is incredibly nutrient-dense. All these varieties are packed with Vitamin K, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.
However, there is a nuance most "superfood" blogs miss: oxalates.
Some people, particularly those prone to calcium-oxalate kidney stones, need to be careful with raw kale consumption. Interestingly, the levels of these compounds vary between the types. If you’re concerned about oxalates, cooking the kale—especially boiling or steaming—significantly reduces the content.
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Also, the "kale is bad for your thyroid" thing? It’s mostly overblown. You would have to eat massive amounts of raw kale every single day for the goitrogens to truly interfere with iodine uptake in a healthy person. If you're rotating your greens—swapping kale for spinach or swiss chard—you’re fine.
How to Actually Buy and Store These
When you’re looking at your local types of kale chart or the produce bin, look for tension.
- The Snap Test: If you bend a stem and it just flops, put it back. It should snap like a fresh carrot.
- Color Depth: Yellowing edges are a sign of age and bitterness. You want deep, saturated colors.
- Size Matters: Smaller leaves are almost always more tender. If you find "baby kale," it’s usually just immature curly or Red Russian leaves. Use those for salads and save the big, leathery monsters for chips or braising.
For storage, stop putting it in the fridge dry. Kale wilts because it loses moisture. Wrap the base of the stems in a damp paper towel and stick the whole bunch in a perforated plastic bag. It’ll stay crisp for a week.
Making the Choice
If you want crunch and volume for kale chips, go Curly.
If you want elegant ribbons in a pasta or soup, go Lacinato.
If you want a raw salad that doesn't feel like a chore, go Red Russian.
Actionable Next Steps
- The Massage Rule: Next time you buy curly kale, chop it small, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and squeeze the leaves with your hands for 60 seconds. Notice how the volume shrinks and the texture softens.
- Temperature Check: If you’re growing your own, wait until after the first light frost of the season to harvest. The sugar spike is real, and it transforms the flavor from "bitter green" to "savory-sweet."
- Stem Utilization: Don't throw away the woody stems of Lacinato or Curly kale. Dice them very finely and sauté them with onions and garlic at the start of a recipe. They have a great crunch and won't go to waste.
- Variety Rotation: Try one variety you’ve never used before this week. If you always get the curly stuff, look for the dark, bumpy Lacinato. It changes the entire profile of your meal.