With Peter Cawse, Bowen grew, dried, and crushed a large amount of marrow-stem kale[3] (Brassica oleracea var. medullosa) into 100 kilograms (220 lb) of a homogeneous and stable powder in 1960 that was subsequently freely distributed to researchers around the world for over two decades. This was probably the first successful example of such a de factostandard.[4] Bowen's Kale stimulated preparation of further materials by other organizations for similar use.
Bowen, H. J. M., A standard biological material for elementary analysis. In P. W. Sallis (ed.), Proc. of the SAC Conference, Nottingham, UK, pp. 25–31. Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, 1965.
Bowen, H. J. M., Kale as a reference material. In W. R. Wolf (ed.), Biological Reference Materials: Availability, uses and need for validation of nutrient measurement, pp. 3–17. John Wiley & Sons, 1984.
Stoeppler, M., Wolf, W. R. and Jenks, P. J. (eds.), Reference Materials for Chemical Analysis: Certification, Availability and Proper Usage. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 2001. ISBN3-527-30162-3. (See pages 4, 26, 59 & 216.)