Tips For Cooking Collard Greens

 Collard greens (Brassica oleracea) are loose-leaved like kale and spinach. You can eat them raw, although they are better when cooked.

Collard greens cook relatively quickly and are best sauteed in olive oil. However, if you are not a vegetarian, you can try cooking them with bacon for added taste. This is my preferred way of cooking them. Simply heat some oil in a frying pan and cook the sliced bacon first, until it is crispy. Then remove it from the heat and crumble it before putting it back in the pan.

Next add the kale and cover it with chicken stock, adding red pepper flakes and seasoning. Simmer for about 45 minutes or less, until the greens are tender.If you want to cook the greens quickly, slice them into medium-sized pieces and add olive oil to a frying pan. When it's hot add the ingredients you intend using. You can add chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to spice up the rather bland taste of the collard greens. Add the greens to the pan and saute them for about four minutes, or until they are bright green.

If you have a slow cooker you can cook the greens with ham hocks for a southern-style dish. Use chicken stock and seasoning to enhance the flavours. It's best to cook this dish over night. Be careful when removing the ham hocks as you don't want to leave any slivers of bone in the greens. Then stir them. Let the hocks cool before attempting to handle them. You need to remove all the fat from the hocks and of course, remove the bone from each hock.

Put the meat back into the slow cooker and add the greens, stirring them so that the meat and vegetables are combined well. You may want to reheat the mixture before serving this traditional Southern-style dish.

If you are vegetarian, stick with the garlic and red pepper flakes and, naturally the greens, but add chopped spring onions, and some other greens, such as kale, and turnip and mustard greens.These go very well together and some chopped tomatoes would also help to enhance the flavour. To spice them up a little, you can add tamari, or the more usual soy sauce, smoked paprika (or a hot paprika), and seasoning. 

These green leaves are very nutritious, containing, as they do vitamins K, A, E and B complex ones. As for minerals they have iron, manganese, and calcium, to name just a few. Why not cook some and give yourself a healthy treat?

The Smartest Way to Cook Collard Greens

 If you have ever cooked collard greens before, and are not quite sure about what to do with them, you can prepare them by first removing the stems and the thick central veins in each leaf. Next cut the leaves into pieces, strips or ribbons. Some people soak the leaves in warm water with salt added, for about ten minutes before preparing them, but this is optional. However, the soaking and the salt ensure they are clean.

You can saute the greens in olive oil or bacon fat, for about 5 minutes with garlic and chopped spicy red pepper. Stir so that the leaves are coated with the oil. When the leaves are still a vivid green and wilted, add a teaspoon of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar to the pan and toss them so that they are all evenly coated. Serve them hot or at room temperature, whichever you prefer.

It is possible to blanch the greens after first preparing them as outlined above. Chop the leaves coarsely and cook them in boiling water (salted), for about 10 minutes, when they should be dark and tender. Drain the collard greens in cold water and squeeze to remove excess water. Serve them alone or as an accompaniment to another dish.

The smartest way to cook collard greens is to fry them with garlic, mushrooms and small pieces of chopped red pepper or jalapenos. Add seasoned stock to the pan and cook until the leaves have wilted.

It's possible to eat the leaves raw, although you might find them indigestible.You can juice them though. A cup of pure collard juice would require eight cups of greens to get an 8 ounce serving. It's much easier and far less time-consuming to blend collard juice with apple juice and perhaps the beetroot juice. Collard juice can be quite bitter, so mixing it with other juices is best. For a sweet drink, blend the collard leaves with chopped mango and orange, or make a smoothie with banana the collard juice, berries that are in season (or frozen ones), ground flax seeds and almond butter. This is a particularly nutritious drink.

Collard greens are versatile and cheap, so are ideal for families and students living on a tight budget. They are packed full with vitamins and minerals and so are a healthy option. Why not pick up some greens next time you go shopping and experiment with them?