Seakale
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| Missing image Crambe_Maritima_Estonia.jpg Seakale growing in Estonia | ||||||||||||||
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Seakale is a halophytic perennial plant that grows wild along the coasts of Europe, from the North Atlantic to the Black Sea. It has large fleshy glaucous collard-like leaves and abundant white flowers. The seeds come one each in globular pods.
The plant is sometimes grown as an ornamental but its most common use is as a blanched vegetable. In the spring the plants are covered with soil or with a pot or box. They then produce thick blanched leaf stalks, each topped with a small leaf. These are used in a similar manner to asparagus. Although it naturally grows very close to the ocean, it can be raised in ordinary garden soil. Plants come readily from seed and also from root cuttings.
Seakale is more commonly used in Europe and only rarely grown in the United States.
Other species
Seakale should not be confused with seakale beet.
Crambe abyssinica, often just called Crambe in the literature, is grown for the oil from its seeds, which are used as a substitute for whale oil.
External Links
- Seakale: A New Vegetable Produced as Etiolated Sprouts (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/v1-419.html)
