Kale Salad with Cranberries

Today we are talking about kale salad with cranberries and massages. You might be thinking these are two completely unrelated topics. But before you jump into conclusions let me build up on why they go together so well. 

We know about the benefits of consuming kale but there are many people who aren't that fond of kale two main reasons. One would be its texture. Kale contains a lot of fibre so it can be hard to just chew on, especially if you decide to go at it raw. It has happened to me that I need to take a break while eating a bowl of kale salad just because my jaw gets exhausted! 

The second reason is the taste. I personally love the strong somewhat bitter flavour of kale. But I know for a lot of people it can be just a bit much. When you consume cooked kale you can easily make the strong flavour a bit more mellow just by adding other ingredients or by using the right seasoning. But eating raw kale is a whole different story so we need to recur to our little hacks.

Fortunately, I have a great one to make our kale-eating experience completely different. When I first heard of this trick I thought it was a bit weird. To be honest I was a bit reluctant to try it and I didn't believe it would actually worked. But I gave it a try and it does work!

The trick on getting the perfect texture and reduce the bitter flavor of kale is simply to give it a little massage. As simple as that! The massage helps break up the sturdy cell structures of your leafy greens and makes it easy to consume. 

For example, for this recipe you can massage the leaves for 5 minutes and you will be good. Don't overdo it because you'll end up on the other side of the spectrum. Soggy kale and no one likes that either. This small trick will make your kale salad with cranberries fluffy and a whole lot easier to eat. 

Now that we know how to get the most out of raw kale we are making a kale salad with cranberries. It's fresh, colourful, delicious and even a bit festive. I've always thought adding cranberries to a salad gives it a festive feel.

I wasn't able to find unsweetened cranberries to make this kale salad. I don't really like adding refined sugar to my recipes but it turned out ok this time. The sweet cranberries go really well with the rest of the ingredients. If it's too sweet, you can always use fewer cranberries than what the recipe suggests. 

To finish it off we are sprinkling a bit of vegan parmesan. Since we want to have all fresh ingredients on this kale salad with cranberries we are making our own vegan parmesan cheese. Here's a super easy to make recipe that will take you 5 extra minutes to make so make sure to not skip it!