Rainbow kale variety bred to be sweet and colourful superfood

Getting children to eat their greens has always been a struggle – but making them pastel purple instead could be one solution.

UK gardeners can now buy the world’s first purple edible kale, designed to tempt the Instagram generation into growing their own.

The kale variety, “Rainbow Candy Crush”, originally developed by scientists in the US, was exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show this week where it was shortlisted for the Plant of the Year award.

The genetics of the plant have been in development for over a decade, created by a Pennsylvania-based programme known as the “crossover project”, designed to create edible flowers and vegetables that also look attractive.

It is a cross between kale and another variety of the brassica vegetable family, which the company won’t reveal for fear of copycats.

Existing ornamental purple kale can be safely eaten but tends to be tough and fibrous, while this variety has been designed to taste better so it can be eaten raw in salads and smoothies.

The plant is designed to capitalise on the boom in gardening among young people, as millennials and the environmentally-conscious are increasingly likely to be planting and growing their own flowers and vegetables.

‘It’s ideal for someone with a young family and not much space’

It comes as the Royal Horticultural Society attempts to attract a younger audience, giving houseplants and small-scale balcony gardens a more central position at the Chelsea show, which ends on Sunday.

Ard Ammerlaan, of Prudac, a Dutch company which worked on the breeding process, said: “We feel the real interest comes from the young people. The older generation, the 50-plus generation, like it as well, but they are used to the traditional way of growing.

“Twenty years ago, the expectation was that the home gardening scene was declining and would never come back, and what we see now is that we underestimated, because the young ones are using their balconies, balcony boxes and the small gardens they have to combine the ornamental with a little bit of produce.”

Gardening company Sutton’s is selling the plant to UK growers, and says its high anthocyanin content, the pigment that makes plants blue, red or purple, could also lead to a higher antioxidant content, the “superfood” compound that can prevent or slow cell damage.

The plant is also sweeter and less bitter than traditional kale, the company claims.

Rob Smith, a product development manager at Sutton's, said the plant was designed to be both pretty and edible for people with little space who wanted their garden to look nice but also contain produce.

“It’s ideal for someone with a young family and not much space, for example growing in pots on a balcony,” he said.

It is also planted in the spring, meaning it can be eaten in lighter summer foods. Kale is more commonly a winter vegetable.