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Add
greens for a more healthful plate
November 3, 05
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Nothing in the garden loves the cold more than greens.
Crisp fall weather and mild winters give greens their best
flavor. That’s why now through about April is the time
to add greens to your menus at home.
What counts as a “green?”
Greens are leafy, headless relatives of the cabbage family:
collards, mustard and turnip greens, and kale. Growing up
in the ’60s in Detroit, I heard about greens in the
context of “soul food” but didn’t try my
first until I was an adult living in the South. Now I’m
hooked and can’t imagine a world without them.
Of course, greens have been a staple in the South for hundreds
of years, but Southerners weren’t the first to discover
their goodness.
They have a long history elsewhere around the globe.
Kale and collards were grown by the Greeks and Romans more
than 2,000 years ago and likely originated earlier in the
area around the eastern Mediterranean or Turkey.
Nutritionally, they’re packed.
Greens are rich sources of calcium, iron, potassium, vitamins
A, C, E, folic acid and fiber. They are a good source of protein
and are low in sodium, too.
In fact, greens are superfoods. They’re concentrated
in nutrients that protect and promote health and free of the
ones we get in excess – such as saturated fat and cholesterol
– which promote disease.
They also taste really good.
Add vinegar or hot sauce if you’d like, but leave out
the bacon and other artery-clogging animal fats.
In The Vegetarian Soul Food Cookbook (Epiphany Books, 2001),
authors Imar Hutchins and Dawn Marie Daniels season mustard
greens with sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, vegetable bouillon,
red onion and a little salt and pepper.
To give their collards “that hamhock taste that makes
soul food distinctive,” they use liquid smoke seasoning
along with a little olive oil, vegetable bouillon, vinegar,
onion, and salt and pepper.
Other ways to add more greens to your meals:
* Chop greens into strips and add them to stir-frys and casseroles.
* Stir cooked greens into soups and stews or add them to other
cooked vegetable mixtures. I use up leftover cooked greens
by tossing them with curried couscous and garbanzo beans.
* Sauté greens in olive oil and mix with whole grain
pasta (I use spirals or bowties), toasted pine nuts, sundried
tomatoes and feta cheese.
* Use cooked greens in place of cabbage leaves for making
cabbage rolls or wrapping other rice, bean or vegetable mixtures.
* Sauté mixed greens (any combination of collards,
mustards, turnips greens or kale) with garlic, onions and
olive oil and serve with cooked, black-eyed peas and cornbread.
If you buy fresh greens, use them as soon as possible. To
store, wrap leaves in damp paper or cloth towels and place
them in an open plastic bag or the vegetable compartment in
the refrigerator. They’ll keep for up to a few days
but will begin to yellow and go limp soon thereafter.
Wash fresh greens by swishing them around in a bowl or sink
full of water to remove any dirt or grit. Greens with curly,
rippled leaves may need to be rinsed two or three times to
remove all of the dirt. Give them a final rinse under the
faucet and set them aside in a colander to drain or pat dry
with a towel.
If you can’t find fresh greens, frozen greens are just
as good, nutritionally speaking.
Reserve a big space on your plate this season for nutritious,
versatile greens.
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