there have been a few times, where there have been seemingly "breakouts" of aphids on my kale

this was pointed out to me by an expert master gardener

problem is , i had bought the kale at the store

i was able to successfully return them with profuse apologies from the manager

it was THAT obvious

since then, i have been more wary and scrutinizing of my kale

i only buy organic kale and rinse off with water

well... after those incidents, i have been inspecting my kale more closely

and lo and behold

it seems as if ALL kale have suspicious looking things on them ALL THE TIME

i am wondering if kale is just a landing for aphids

i am feeling pretty disgusted, actually

if you are reading this, do me a favor

if you usually get kale ( INSPECT ) VERRRRRRRY closely

the underside, of the kale and see if ( like me) you do not see a bunch of weird looking stuff that make you question

you get something that looks like a HEALTHY kale

then you look closer

and you see strange things

you think " oh it is just discoloration"

or you see "bumps" and think... oh , i am just being paranoid

or you see a combination of brownish or yellowish bumps or discoloration

and think " oh.. it is nothing"

but i am getting really tired of so much STUFF all over my kale

really?

my contention is that, if there are aphids in kale

they should not be putting it out in the store

just before posting this

i was spending... GOBS of time, trying to rinse out all the little weirdness in my kale

just gave up

don't want to go to the store yet ANOTHER time to explain what happened

i never see any of this stuff on parsley.. never

or cilantro... never

or butter lettuce.. never

or romaine lettuce.. never
or spinach.. never ever ever

JUST KALE!

what is UP with kale?

getting burnt out with spending so much time, inspecting, scrutinizing, washing,, washing,,, cutting away ... driving back to store... getting refund...

the cycle goes and goes

i think i will just stop eating kale from now on

in case, you think you are imagining that there is something weird going on with kale...

check out these pictures

[fficial&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=w6DzU_Ez2OugBIeagbAD&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1007&bih=450" rel="nofollow" >www.google.com]

the problem is that the photos of aphids were taken with some high powered lense that zooms in and magnifies by a zillion fold

hence, to the unaided naked human eye

it looks a LOT less noticeable

but still... why all the weird bumps ( like little eggs) and discoloration

on seemingly EVERY leaf of EVERY kale?

look really CLOSELY at your OWN kale

and you will see what i mean

i wasn't ever this picky

till i saw MAJOR outbreaks of it on a bunch of my kale

okay... so... the solution?

instead of my pathetic complaining?

grow my own kale

i better just buckle up

and do that

since a solution IS in sight

i heard ladybugs were good biological predators for aphids

maybe have a bunch of them all around

sigh...

any people have any insights on why kale bought at a STORE would allow these things?

what is all the discoloration and mottled spotted ness that is CONSTANT?

kale doesn't have to look pretty

i just don't want to be eating bugs

I think it's just you. LOL--sorry! I just made kale chips yesterday and was eating raw leaves drenched in my cashew cheeze sauce and never saw any critters and never have before. This was conventional kale, by the way.

I have grown kale and found that it gets eaten up pretty good in the summer. Must be some critters who love the stuff. I think it might be a runner up in the Dirty Dozen but I find that the price of conventional is so good that I end up getting it most of the time.

Why not just buy it somewhere else rather than giving up such a nutritious veggie?

yeah ive been buying the earthbound farms 1lb packaged kale lately and saw this weird beehive looking thing on a leaf of kale. this is baby kale too so smaller leaves. i thought, wow ive been throwing this stuff blindly into my smoothies the past few months. that stuff says triple washed.

in the desert, you find two puddles of water next to each other. One has very clean water to drink from. But the other is full of insects that move around. Which one would you drink from? One can support life the other does not.

I buy the Trader Joe's organic Tuscan kale and I see a lot of holes, but really no bugs themselves.

close2raw says:

<< I buy the Trader Joe's organic Tuscan kale and I see a lot of holes, but really no bugs themselves >>

where do the holes come from?
something had to make those holes

anyhow...

okay... so... some people have bad hair days, well me.... my hair is decent so i pretty much have only bad kale days... and when the bad kale days outnumber the bad hair days... something has gotta give...

anyone have any tips on how to grow kale?

do you just pour some seeds into the ground, water and presto?

anything i gotta watch out for?

plus where do you get ladybugs for your kale so they eat the aphids

plus do ladybugs eat kale too?

yeah, lotta questions

any kale gardeners out there?

if i complain about kale

maybe i should see how easy it is to grow it

yeah...



bad kale days may be a thing of tomorrow

fruitylou Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yeah ive been buying the earthbound farms 1lb
> packaged kale lately and saw this weird beehive
> looking thing on a leaf of kale. this is baby kale
> too so smaller leaves. i thought, wow ive been
> throwing this stuff blindly into my smoothies the
> past few months. that stuff says triple washed.


I think you'll find better prices buying bunches of kale rather than packages. They really jack up the price. Even for organic, you can get bunches at Whole Food's for about $2.49 each.

Good to know la_v. Once in a store I saw a slug-like bug eating the kale and pointed it out to the produce manager. He took it back and told me that is why you should always wash your produce.

Never knew that kale could have aphids. I have had terrible aphids on Cilantro when I tried to grow it. I have Lacinto Kale growing in a medium rectangular pot on my patio. All the bottom leaves are gone because I kept eating them. Home grown kale tastes so much sweeter and is softer in texture than even organic kale bought from the store. It's not hard to grow, either. I don't know that it will grow year round, though.

Thanks for the info. Therese

I know exactly what you are talking about. I work at whole foods, usually at a juice bar, and the kale has been infested for four or five months now. I see all sorts of weird creatures while washing it. Worst is when I've seen the cooks make recipes with it without having washed it

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW They make that nasty superfood salad and its got bugs in it???

la_veronique, not sure why, but your post made me think about all the creatures that are crawling over our bodies, our faces, our skin. The tiny little things we can't see but are there. Also, all the various little things that make our body. For we are not really ONE being, but millions of little beings that make our body. Each having their own mind, their own consiousness. Which makes me wonder, who am I. All these little creatures together? Or something else perhaps?


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams

life can get pretty strange when it gets small. It has been witnessed that proteins alone can make decissions, yet they do not have brains. They can stretch, move, seek, etc., as if they were large animals (which have trillions of cells). Virus (proteins) have been seen doing predatory moves (sneaky) on membranes with decissions. They just don't float inert and get lucky. They go a get it. Same with cells (like sperm cells going through a long odisea). So, where is the knowledge stored?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 07:27PM by Panchito.

rawgosia

pancito

thanks for the food for thought

aphids in my kale

will that boost amt of protein i get?

shrug





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 08:16PM by la_veronique.

I have seen little bugs on trader joes tuscan kale, a few times. Not sure what they looked like though, because I've found other bugs in food from there, so not sure which ones they were

It's not an appetizing thought but apparently the presence of bugs and their particulates is part of everyone's daily regime.

I had heard years ago that the FDA allows a maximum of 53 insects for every pound of grain. I couldn't find that exact fact, however, I did find a webpage that talks a bit about what the story apparently is.

[www.sixwise.com]

I would imagine that as rawfooders, we eat fewer bugs than those who settle for processed food though I suspect that if our vision were capable of distinguishing things microscopic, we would be surprised to see what we actually ingest.

Ignorance is bliss!

I just got less ignorant:

I Hate to Break it to You, but You Already Eat Bugs

The Grossest Bugs You Don’t Know You’re Eating

Bugs In Food: What You're Eating Without Realizing It

OK, let's change the subject now...

rawgosia

can't even get myself to click on your links LOL!!!!!

i think i'll stick with ignorance

guess when people say " where do u get your protein"?

i can just say

plenty of bugs

Don't click! Don't click!

Rawgosia,

I enjoyed reading your articles though it's not the kind of thing I like to think about.

Last year, while I was eating raw cauliflower, someone told me they all have worms in them so I backed away. Then I heard that if there are worms in them, if you soak them in a saline solution, they'll come out so I did. No worms came out. I tried this on several heads of cauliflower without any results so I threw caution to the wind.

I've always tried to be at peace with the insects and other bugs. When they're in the house, I pick them up, put them outside and tell them they're lucky it's me! Now, I've come to learn I'm inadvertently chomping on them.

TMI!

On a more positive note...

I must say, I admire their taste. They eat better food than most all of my friends...know what I'm saying?

This is what I meant when I said about creatures crawling on our face:

Bad News, Arachnophobes: All Adults Have Facial Mites

la_veronique Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> it seems as if ALL kale have suspicious looking
> things on them ALL THE TIME



Solution = Kale Sprouts.

kale sprouts?

hmm.... that will be a first for me

care to say more about kale sprouts?

pics? taste? how to make?

i see that as a very viable solution!

Actually bugs are nutritious especially when you do not know they are hidden in the kale.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2014 02:24AM by RawPracticalist.

la_veronique Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kale sprouts?
>
> hmm.... that will be a first for me
>
> care to say more about kale sprouts?
>
> pics? taste? how to make?
>
> i see that as a very viable solution!


Haven't been able to get it in my country ever, but l am looking to important 100 pound sacks.

I would get yourself the biggest sack possible and sprout `em to it comes out of your ears.

[www.johnnyseeds.com]

www.thesproutarian.com

the kale sprouts look beautifful

thanks!

also, how much more nutrients do baby greens contain in contrast to their mature counterparts?

curious