All Wegmans stores will be holding a "Love Kale" tasting event Saturday, Nov. 1 to highlight the vegetable's versatility, flavor and health benefits. Kale-inspired foods will be distributed throughout the store, allowing each department to feature its own kale-centric recipe, loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

“Kale tastes great in so many different ways that I think every customer who comes to the store for the ‘Love Kale’ event will be in for some nice surprises,” Executive Chef John Steinhoff said in a press release. “Every dish we’ll be sampling features kale as an ingredient, so customers will get a sense of its versatility. There’ll be a salad and side dishes, a vegetarian sushi roll, a pasta dish, a smoothie, and even sweets and snacks. We’ll have recipe cards for those who want to recreate some of these dishes at home.”

The featured recipes will be sautéed kale and kale chips in the produce department; Hail Kale Caesar salad in the self-serve bar in prepared foods area; 'Kale-elujah’ rolls at the sushi bar; Tuscan roasted squash and kale, paired with roasted honey-brined rib end of pork in the meat department; kale and cannelini cappellacci, a ravioli dish in the dairy department; Kandy Kale and Rhythm Chips in Nature’s Marketplace; and fruit and kale smoothies in the frozen foods area.

“Kale is really popping in my garden right now, and my kids love it,” Steinhoff said. “They’ll ask if I can make some kale chips for them, and then go pick some leaves for the chips. One day, after my son and I came home from a sporting event, I made ‘Hail Kale’ Caesar Salad. He ate it and liked it so much he asked for more.”

In fact, Steinhoff said, a good way to introduce kale to kids is to have it in foods with a familiar flavor — such as Caesar salad or a minestrone soup.

“Kale’s reputation as a superfood is understandable since it’s so rich in a number of important nutrients,” Jane Andrews, Wegmans nutrition and product labeling manager, said in the release. “But no one fruit or vegetable — even kale — offers all the nutrients our bodies need from this food group. So as our Eat Well, Live Well guidelines suggest, enjoy five cups a day of fruits and vegetables in many varieties, tastes, and colors.”

Kale grows best in cool temperatures, and its leaves grow sweeter with a touch of light frost, so its peak growing season, from fall to spring, is just beginning. Curly kale is the most popular and common variety. Tuscan kale (also known as Lacinato or dinosaur kale) has a slightly sweeter, more delicate flavor. Ornamental kales in shades of white, pink and purple are grown for their beauty in the garden and in floral arrangements — though edible, they have a somewhat bitter flavor.