Kale Nero di Toscana

The Tuscan kale that has quietly become the fashionable one, and deservedly. Long narrow leaves in near-black blue-green, so deeply blistered they look almost reptilian, held in an upright rosette on a stem to eighty centimetres. Cavolo nero in Italy, lacinato in America, dinosaur kale to anyone under twelve.

The flavour is the reason to grow it. Where curly kale can be tough and faintly mineral, this is rich, sweet and nutty, and it cooks in minutes rather than needing the long boiling that curly kale demands. Frost improves it markedly — leaves picked after October are noticeably sweeter than summer ones.

It is also genuinely handsome, holding its architectural form right through winter when most of the garden has gone brown. Three or four plants feed a household and will crop from late summer through to the following spring.