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Collard greens?


C.O.
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Do you eat them? I assume they are healthy because they are dark green and leafy. As long as you don't make them southern style cooked in animal grease. Anyone know about their nutritional value or also anyone have some good recipes that include them?

 

-Dylan

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Rainbow chard =

 

If you've got a 10" pot, good soil, and four hours of sun a day, you can grow it from seed. It continues growing all summer into fall, you just keep pulling the outer leaves off to eat and letting the inner ones mature. In a good year, one pot will yield seven giant salad bowls of the stuff from early spring to the next snow. Good raw, sauteed, in lasagna, as sandwich greens, you name it. I like the red one best, it's purdy.

 

Rainbow chard: http://blog.terra-organics.com/2011/09/storage-and-preparation-tips-radishes-red-bell-pepper-rainbow-chard/

Nutritional data: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2399/1?quantity=28.0

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71v2Jxyyym8

 

Baby Herc

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Collard greens seem to be too bitter for me, even in olive oil, salt and garlic, even in soy sauce. Any suggestions how to cook them to help tame the bitterness? The chips idea sounds interesting, I like kale chips. Are they less bitter as chips?

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Best things to cut bitterness I've found with collards -

 

1. Buy organic, not conventional. EVERY batch of non-organic collards I get taste way too bitter for me, organic far less, so that's the only way I'll buy collards now, even though it costs twice as much.

 

2. I try to cut out the veiniest parts of the collards rather than cook them all up. This means it takes me about 20 minutes to cut and prep abou 4-5 bunches, but they tend to be less stringy and a bit less bitter if I cut around the big white veins in the leaves and focus on the good green stuff. A bit less fiber, perhaps, but when you're eating as much of them as I do, it's not a worry

 

3. I don't always cook them right away, I often let them sit for 2-4 days in the crisper before I cook them. Seems that if they have a few days to sit first, they end up less bitter, and they don't usually wilt quickly so a few days doesn't seem to do any harm.

 

4. A little vinegar goes a long way with cooking collards. We usually have rice wine vinegar at home, a few splashes here and there in a big pan with about 4-5 bunches stewing up and it helps take the bite out.

 

5. It's all in the seasoning. I usually make mine either with cajun seasoning spices, a dash of liquid smoke and lots of coarse black pepper, or, with Indian seasonings, as things like tandoori seasoning or tikka really suit collards well. Just a cup or two of water in the pan, add seasonings in as the greens wilt a bit under medium heat after about 5-8 minutes, and they come out great every time. Of course, if they're still a bit bitter, a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce mixed in will fix that quickly enough

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My mother used to do them southern style but when I got her off of animal fat she started using olive oil. It is actually better now, though I don't eat refined oil now either. lol

 

When I used to get a lot of greens (which I just don't have the taste for) I ate a lot of collards from the can. Already prepared and flavored a little and if drained probably half the salt was drained out too.

 

Only thing now is I agree with the above that if I bought some now (or anything that stays close to the ground) it would only be organic. They are dumping E. Coli infected cow, chicken, and human poop on their crops now. No thanks!!

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