Collards Greens And African Cookery
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Collard greens have a long association with people of African descent. Sources dated before the 1800s show that Mande women from West Africa commonly served fried chicken together with collard greens and dumplings. During the antebellum period enslaved Africans only had time to make sides dishes such as collard greens on Sundays. Masters gave their slaves off on Sundays and on few holidays and religious days. Collards are a fibrous greens which required extensive cooking to make them tender and easy to digest. Collards are also full of vitamins and minerals.
Collard Greens Recipe
Wash collard leaves. They should not be too old and coarse. Cut finely. Boil until extremely tender, a matter of at least an hour, preferably longer- they can scarcely be cooked too long, and are equally good “warmed over”- in enough water barely to cover, with several thin slices of white bacon to each market bunch of the leaves. The water should almost cook away, leaving a delicious broth known to the South as “pot liquor.” Cornbread is always served with collard greens and it is etiquette to dunk the cornbread in the pot liquor. (Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. Cross Creek Cookery (New York: Fireside, 1942)
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