Kombucha Kitchen: Collard Greens with Bacon in Kombucha Broth

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Few vegetables are more packed with vitamin-y goodness than leafy greens, especially the closely related and hearty Collard Greens and Kale.

Varieties of naturally bitter Kale and sweeter, earthier Collards thrive year round. They also flourish right after the first frost. This traditionally provided much needed freshly harvested nutrients to families during the “Hungry Gap,” the coldest time of the year when no other vegetables were available.

Green Storage

Since modern societies exist mostly without seasonal food restrictions, the value of these delicious, nutrient dense vegetables has largely been forgotten. Packed with folates, vitamins A, C, & K, and many of the important B vitamins (B-3, B-5, B-6 and riboflavin), minerals such as iron, calcium, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc and much more, they deliver on their classification as “superfoods” like few others can.

Did You Know?

Collards and Kale are two of many cultivars stemming from the extremely diverse cabbage species Brassica oleracea.

Other cultivars include broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and brussels sprouts.

Unlike cabbage which form a tightly knit head of leaves, collards grow a rosette of large free-standing leaf stalks surrounding a main stem. Kale comes in a variety of colors and shapes, but curly green kale is commonly served.

Kale comes in a variety of colors and shapes, but curly green kale is commonly served.

Collards are “colewort” aka “wild cabbage” and likely originated in Asia and were carried to Turkey over 2,000 years ago. Easy to cultivate in home gardens, Julius Caesar is said to have eaten collards after meals to aid digestion. They migrated across the Atlantic sometime during the 17th century and became staples in both the Southern part of the United States as well as Brazil. Eastern Africa, Zimbabwe and Kashmir also boast traditional collard dishes.

Americans Love Collard Greens

Collards, kale and other greens became staples of slave diets as plantation owners considered the plants to be weeds, encouraging them to eat as much as they liked. Often flavored with salted meat and vinegar, they have become a staple fixture in soul food cuisine.

Their popularity has soared in recent years as vegetarian and vegan trends have embraced all things green and continue to be popular in the South where a New Year’s Day pot of collards and black-eyed peas is supposed to ensure increased wealth in the New Year.

Kombucha Mamma Sez: “Collards are a great source of soluble fiber and important phyto-nutrients such as di-indolyl-methane (DIM) and sulforaphane which boost the immune system to help your body fight off viruses, bacteria, and even cancer!“

However, cooked properly and with the right ingredients, even the anti-veggie crowd can be convinced to snarf down some greens. So nab some collards from your local grocery store or farmer’s market and try this recipe that substitutes milder Kombucha vinegar for a tasty side dish.

Are Collard Greens a new experience,
or an old favorite dish of your family?

How do you like to eat them?

Share in the comments below!

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