Portuguese kale — broad, smooth, thick-ribbed blue-green leaves between collard and cabbage. Sliced into fine ribbons for caldo verde, the iconic Portuguese greens-and-bean soup.
Portuguese kale and caldo verde are familiar in the Cape Verdean and Portuguese-American communities of New England that overlap with Black American foodways, offering another greens-and-beans tradition that mirrors Southern greens and field peas.
Tronchuda is the same species as collards and kale and delivers the same cruciferous nourishment: dietary nitrate for nitric-oxide blood pressure lowering, vitamin K1 and calcium for bone density and arterial calcium handling, and glucosinolates yielding sulforaphane and DIM for cancer protection and estrogen metabolism. When cut into the fine ribbons of caldo verde and cooked only briefly, it retains high levels of vitamin C and folate, making the soup a nutrient-dense one-pot vehicle for greens.
Stack and roll leaves, slice into very thin ribbons (the classic caldo verde cut), and add to the soup in the final 5-10 minutes. The thick ribs can be cooked longer or removed.
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