Kale Chips Glazed with Merquén and Parmesan

If you have a vegetable resistor in your house there are techniques to ease your green naysayer into veggie acceptance.  I call them “starter recipes”.  For example, when I was young, I didn’t care for avocadoes.  They seemed mushy and bland and I didn’t understand what the fuss was about.  Then I was introduced to guacamole.  Mushy became buttery and bland was transformed into tasty.  With salty chips, zippy lime juice and chunky tomatoes, I thought that stuff was the bomb.  It didn’t take long to go from loving guacamole to craving pure avocadoes; it was just a matter of transforming it into something else extra tasty before I could embrace the pure form.  (Just don’t go the route of dousing everything in Ranch dressing.  In my experience that just makes for a lot of eaters who like Ranch.)

This recipe has the ability to turn kale dissenters into believers.  Our Hot + Spicy Maple Syrup is brushed onto the leaves along with some olive oil to keep it moist, and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.  The result is crispy and salty with a smidge of heat from the smoked chilis.  If they come out right, the taste of the kale is not masked but elevated and that just might lead to a future kale lover.