Issues: The Kalette and the confusion about hybrids

Chef Jonathan Kavourakis likes to scour the internet for new vegetables at the start of each new season. His lower east side restaurant, the Stanton Social, had offered Brussels sprouts in the fall and a kale caesar salad afterward — both with great results. Then he found a hybrid of Brussels sprouts and kale, the best of both worlds.

It goes by several names, including the Flower Sprout, the Lollipop Kale and the BrusselKale — but most recently, it’s been rebranded by Tozer Seeds as the Kalette. A small cabbage-like vegetable with purple streaks and green frilly leaves, the Kalette was created after 15 years of research and development by Tozer, a British seed house. It was introduced to the U.K. market in 2010 as the Flower Sprout, and in the U.S. in 2012 as the Kalette.

“Tozer gave the seeds to a few growers for a trial period,” said Lisa Friedrich, director of marketing at Golden Sun Marketing, which has been working with Tozer Seeds since the rebranding of the hybrid as the Kalette. “They realized there was a lot of interest, and a lot of different names started to come up. They needed more control of the development, and that’s when they brought us in.”

“Our goal is that the confusion of the ‘lollipop kale’ will go away,” she said, chuckling.  Confusion over the initial variety of names had been a large marketing problem. “On a large scale, it’s really just launched last fall. This is the first harvest that it was available as the ‘Kalette’. There’s a learning curve because it’s brand new in the states — the growing conditions are different from the U.K.”

There are now six official growers who sell the Kalette across the United States. The seeds are also available for smaller farms or individuals, but the name Kalette is reserved for growers with a partnership with Tozer Seeds, and small growers have to call their produce something else. The official growers include 4Earth Farms, Classic Salads, WP Rawl, Southern Specialties, Mann Packing and Ocean Mist Farms.

Ocean Mist, a family owned farm in Castroville, California, is the largest grower of fresh artichokes in the United States. Now, cautiously, the farm has approached a whole new kind of vegetable.

“It’s the first new vegetable in a very long time,” said Diana McClean, director of marketing at Ocean Mist. “It’s something we wanted to be a part of. With our history of growing Brussels sprouts, we thought we would be a successful grower.”

“Growers are traditionally conservative, so we’re not going to experiment with not much research behind it,” explained McClean. The company had done its homework with the Kalette, and had now reached a point where they were comfortable with the trendy hybrid. “In general terms, we dedicate more resources to the successful introduction of a new item.”

So far, Ocean Mist has seen more demand than they can meet for the Kalette, according to McClean. She did not want to discuss exact numbers, but she was confident that the Kalette was a growing trend — Ocean Mist is in the process of planting more seeds for the next crop.

Hybrids have led to some confusion about whether they qualify as genetically-modified, and the packaging for Ocean Mist Kalettes clearly states that the vegetable is “Non-GMO”.

“It’s the first veggie that we’ve been involved in that has question marks about that,” said McClean. “It’s good to make that one of your first message points.”

The Kalette is a traditionally-bred hybrid between two vegetables in the same Brassica Oleracea species, which doesn’t fall under the government’s definition of genetically-modified foods.

“Mating two varieties of plants together wouldn’t fall under the umbrella of genetical engineering,” said Marianna Naum, policy analyst at the FDA, using the agency’s preferred term for the process. According to the FDA, genetic engineering involves methods that scientists use to introduce new traits or characteristics to an organism, not cross-breeding two plants.

“Breeding two plants together is something you could do at home,” said Naum.

Louise Kramer, public relations director at the Specialty Food Association, said that there is growing interest among health-conscious consumers in non-GMO products. At the same time, that concern with health might drive customers to the Kalette.

“There’s a market for this,” she said. “There’s a lot of interest for kale, and people are getting experimental – looking for new twists on kale. The Kalette is a unique situation.”

According to Kramer, success depends on educating the public about what a hybrid vegetable really is.

“Hybridization has been a foundation for agriculture,” she said. “All the different varieties of apples and pears, they’re all hybrids. A challenge today for the world of agriculture is to properly articulate what a GMO is, versus a classic hybrid. There is a lot of confusion among customers.”

That confusion about a hybrid’s GMO status extends even to growers. At the Union Square Farmer’s Market,  Ryan and Wendy Race are busy dealing with a swarm of customers who want to buy their different types of lettuce, and pots of herbs basking in the sun.

“We’d love to try stuff like that,” said Ryan Race, referring to the Kalette. “But we can’t sell it here. Grow NYC has a policy against GMOs.”

Grow NYC was unavailable for comment.

Chef Franklin Becker, of The Little Beet in midtown Manhattan, has been serving the Kalette since Chef Becker’s purveyor first introduced him to the vegetable.

“Hybrids have been happening forever,” said Chef Becker. “As long as it’s done properly, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Chef Kavourakis agreed.

“To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of genetically-modified foods,” he said. “But if you think about a hybrid, it’s kind of different. If it tastes good, it’s healthy and it’s not hurting the farms, then I’m okay with it.”

The chefs’ concerns were primarily with taste and nutritional value.

“One of the most important decisions for me when planning a menu is flavor,” said Chef Becker. “Kalettes combine great flavor with great nutritional benefits. I get them from all over — Mann’s farms, upstate farms.”

Chef Kavourakis at the Stanton Social was a little more cautious. “It’s trial and error,” he said. “We taste something, put it on the menu, and if in a couple of weeks, people don’t order it — we take it off. The Kalette has been great. People order it. I’ll leave it on the menu until we can’t get it anymore.”

Anthony Gibbons, co-founder of Radicle Farm Company, said that most of the vegetables they grow have been hybridized. His company supplies vegetables to local New York restaurants, growing produce in controlled greenhouses, and one of their new crops is rainbow kale. 

“It’s cool to try new varieties,” he said. “We find a new seed packet, try them out, then source them at a larger amount. We look for products that are still kind of familiar to our consumers. We don’t actively seek out trends, but we’re always looking out for new things we could grow and would peak the interest of our restaurant clients.”

“But still,” he said,  “an in-season tomato is going to be the best thing ever.”

Tags: Brussels sprout, FDA, flower sprout, GMO, hybrid, Kale, kalette, ocean mist, Radicle Farm Company, Stanton Social, the Little Beet, tozer seeds