Healthy winter vegetables Fresh kale should always be without discoloration

No discoloration: how to recognize fresh kale
Especially in northern Germany kale is very popular during the cold season. The delicious winter vegetables are full of healthy plant substances that protect against diseases. Experts explain how fresh kale can be recognized.

Vitamins, minerals and trace elements
In autumn and winter, vitamin C intake is particularly important because of the more frequent colds caused by the wet and cold weather. Local vegetables such as cabbage can make an important contribution here. Varieties such as kale are just as healthy as exotic superfoods. Hardly any vegetables contain so many vitamins, minerals and trace elements in such a balanced composition.

Vitamin-rich kale should always be bought fresh. If the cabbage shows discoloration, it is no longer fresh. (Image: Iuliia Metkalova / fotolia.com)

It does not always have to be peephole
Kale is traditionally cooked mostly with sausage, bacon or Kasseler, but the vegetables can be not only hearty, but also easy and delicious to prepare. For example, in the form of a bright green kale sauce or as an exotic side dish.

It is important to buy the vitamin-rich cabbage fresh. The farmers' association Landvolk Niedersachsen explains in a recent report how consumers determine that the quality is right.

Buy directly from the producer
"The customers recognize the uniform green coloration, batches with discoloration or dried-up interfaces should not buy them," explains Erich Klug, cultivation advisor of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony.

The freshest cabbage is offered by farmers at farmer's markets or in the farm shop. Here customers can also ask when the cabbage was harvested. (Ad)