The multinational seed company Sakata has just added Kale to its catalog. “As a leading brassica company, we needed to have kale in our portfolio. Blue Ridge is the first kale variety that enters the market with different characteristics. It has the same high quality that we have in other brassicas, such as broccoli or cauliflower," stated Antonio Ibarra, head of brassica development at Sakata Seed Ibérica.
“Blue Ridge has a very curly, dense, and heavy leaf with a correct petiole-to-limbus ratio. Another very marketable feature is its dark blue-green color, a quality that has inspired naming it Blue Ridge," stated Antonio Ibarra.
Sakata's new kale variety has been tested in Spain for three years, although it has already been marketed in the United States for a few more years. “In this time, it's proved that it adapts to any planting season. However, it reaches its full potential in the harvests from March to June. This variety has a high tolerance to flowering, which allows farmers greater flexibility when harvesting because its slow sprouting process prolongs the campaign some weeks," he added.
Kale popularity is increasing in Spain
Kale, like the rest of the other Brassicas, is mainly cultivated and consumed in cold-weather countries, like the United States, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, and Germany.
However, in recent years its popularity has been growing in Spain. There is a production of 1,500 hectares of kale in the Mediterranean and this category has consolidated in the Spanish market, mainly because of its great nutritional features. It contains more iron than meat, more calcium than milk, and more folic acid than eggs. Kale also contains vitamins C, A, and K, as well as a great number of phytochemicals and antioxidants.
For more information:
Sakata Seed Ibérica
Plaça del Poeta Vicente Gaos, 6 – Bj
46021 València (España)
Tel.: +34 96 356 34 27
sakata-info@sakata.eu
www.sakataiberica.com