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Collard greens are another season-long staple here at ELIJA Farm. We've even kept collards growing late into fall and almost winter because it's such a hardy green. This Mustard family member is known for its prominence in Southern cuisine and is a loose-leafed cultivar of Brassica oleracea which includes cabbage, broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, etc. Its name comes from “colewort” in Middle English referring to its relationship with the cabbage plant. Its large, thick, round leaves range in color from grey green to darker green and contain plenty of fiber, calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. They are said to improve heart health and digestion.
Southern recipes often combine collards with bacon, ham, or turkey – they can be sauteed, steamed, added to soups. One of our CSA members likes to use the leaves as keto-wraps. Many recipes call for cooking collards with some kind of acid like vinegar or tomato sauce to break down the fibrous leaves and adding something sweet like sugar or apples to balance the mild bitterness.
Fun fact about collard greens, they were one of the crops chosen by NASA for experimentation and study for growing food in space! They’re also one of the oldest crops in the cabbage family, having been cultivated in ancient times by Greeks and Romans in the Mediterranean region as well as Asia Minor.
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