Keeping kale cool with a new variety: Unicorn

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE

FOR RELEASE: Nov. 18, 2025

Kaitlyn Serrao

607-882-1140

kms465@cornell.edu

Keeping kale cool with a new variety: Unicorn

ITHACA, N.Y. - Years in the making, it’s finally here. Unicorn kale.

Masterminded by Phillip Griffiths, associate professor of horticulture at Cornell University, unicorn kale is full speed ahead: In Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog for 2026, unicorn kale is listed in three locations in the catalog: as a full-size kale and for premium baby leaf and micro-kale growing.

Among tester comments: “Different from anything on the market.”

Griffiths said back in about 2014, he and his team dug up 15 very different brassica breeding line types, ranging from red curly kale to lacinato, with a wide range of phenotypes, intercrossing them to develop about 160 hybrid combinations that were selected over several years.

“Unicorn Kale traces back to a golden collard line crossed with a red leaf curly kale line,” Griffiths said.

With kales, Griffiths said, the more blue-green plants are typically chewier and can be bitter. A golden leaf is generally more tender and crisp, perhaps friendlier to the mainstream market. Kale started entering new culinary territory about 15 years ago when people realized it had a good mouth feel and complemented more complex and robust flavors (toasted nuts, dried fruit, blue cheese), especially when given a little massage to break down the fibers.

“Kale burst onto the scene and then ran into a wall,” Griffiths said, “because it didn’t really have any follow-up. People are ready for more new and different types of kale.”

This new kale, he said, has the texture people like without much bitterness and with much cooler aesthetics. A golden green color filigreed with a purple vein gives it a festive look. It’s not only a versatile ingredient, it’s a solid new option for controlled environment agriculture businesses because it grows well indoors as a premium baby green.

Griffiths isn’t claiming the name as his own handiwork, however.

“Johnny’s started using the term because it was so different from what they were expecting kale to be,” he said. “They suggested that to me.”

For additional information, read this Cornell Chronicle story.

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