Collards, Collard Greens
The collard is a green leafy vegetable. The dark green leaves are borne in rosette fashion around an upright, stocky main stem. The long stemmed leaves resemble cabbage leaves, except that they are oval in shape instead of round. The nutritious leaves are cooked as greens. Collard greens are a staple vegetable of southern U.S. cuisine and soul food. They are often prepared with other similar green leaf vegetables, such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, and mustard greens in “mixed greens”. They are generally eaten year-round in the South. Typical seasonings when cooking collards can consist of smoked and salted meats (ham hocks, pork neckbones, fatback or other fatty meat), diced onions, vinegar, salt, and pepper (black, white, or crushed red). Traditionally, collards are eaten on New Year’s Day (along with black-eyed peas or field peas and corn bread) to ensure wealth in the coming year, as the leaves resemble folding money
Filed under: Vegetables | No Comments »
