The State of Greens...Collards in Particular

Much of my motivation in penning this blog is a desire to help restore the knowledge and usage of green leafies in this world. On most restaurant menus, one is lucky if they can find romaine lettuce, spinach, and the occasional sprig of kale for garnish. Frustrating for the greens enthusiast.

However, I had an awakening journey last week in which I realized in some parts of the United States, the culture of greens eating is still very much alive. 

So last week, I had the incredible privilege to ride around Alabama and Georgia in a bus of students, teachers, and professors dedicated to learning the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement, preserving the stories, and applying the principles of Nonviolence. In the spirit of this journey, we of course consumed a lot of soul food. 

I was delighted to discover the propensity of greens on the soul food restaurants' menus. Collards were the most popular with few showings of mustard and beet greens. 

Collard greens belong to the brassica family and are a large, strong leafy green. They grow with great fervor all over the Southern United States as well as in Spain, Africa, Brazil, Portugal, and Kashmir. Although they will grow for much of the year, folk wisdom says they taste best when the sparkles of frost have graced their dark leaves. They're of course, incredibly nutritious, and have long been a staple of southern cuisine. 

During slavery, slaves were often forced to feed themselves from the scraps of their white masters. These scraps included pig's feet, ham hocks, hog moss (pig's bladder) and so these were tossed in with a pot of collards to create a nutritious, tasty stew. The mineral rich juice is called pot-likk0r and makes an excellent tonic. The collards that we met on our tour were similarly cooked with hunks of meat...pork fat back mostly. I didn't see any pig feet or bladder although that would have been interesting. Sometimes collards are also prepared with a bit of brown sugar or vinegar. If you come upon a co-op down South, your collards might be prepared with shoyu, tamari, or maybe a bit of miso.

In ethiopian cuisine, collards are sliced thin, steamed, and then scooped up with a bit of fermented flatbread called injera. This is my favorite way to eat collards. 

So next time you're at the store, look for a bunch of large, flat dark colored leaves. Take them home, wash them thoroughly. Then roll them up, and slice them into strips...fine strips or thick strips. Toss them in a steamer basket, steam for 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle on a bit of sea salt, squeeze half an orange and see how you like collards plain and simple.  

Mmm, hooray. The culture of collards is alive and well.