Easter History and Food Series: Collards and Creolization

Collard greens, recipes below

Africans in the colonial south did not develop their religious foodways traditions within a vacuum instead creolization occurred naturally. This is the process that happens when two or more cultures come to together and a new culture develops with elements of the original parts. Through close interaction with Native Americans and Africans, white indentured servants integrated many African and Native American cultural traditions. Each group adapted agricultural practices, religious holidays, and culinary preferences from each other. As white indentured servants and white masters adopted African foodways and slaves adopted special occasions and material culture from owners, black and white cultures in the South became more homogenous. Take for example a side dish like collard greens; the plant comes from England but its preparation in the colonial south was distinctively African. Historically Europeans in general did no eat lots of greens nor seasoned the cooked vegetables they ate with hot peppers, onions, and garlic. These plants used as seasoning came to the Americas from Asia via Africa. But today, any native born southerner, white or black, is a green eating corn bread pot liquor sopping person, particularly at an Easter Sunday meal! If you are a northerner without southern roots, that last sentenced probably has you puzzled. Here are some collard green recipes below.

Pork Seasoned Greens: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/collard_greens_with_bacon/

Healthier Southern Greens: http://www.healthyselfandhome.com/InTheKitchen.html

Vegan Greens

Ingredients

1 bunch of greens: collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, or chard
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness of your stock

Liquid smoke or smoked paprika

Method:

Wash the collards good in plenty of slightly salted water, strip the leaves off the steams, discard the steams and cut the greens into small pieces. Start out with 3 bunches which will serve 6 people, they are big but they cook down like spinach. I steam mine in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes until the fibrous leaves are easy to eat. Steaming preserves the water soluble vitamins that are killed when you just boil the greens down like most of my ancestors have done for years. Remove the collards from the pressure cooker and save the water to make the pot-licker or stock. Season the water with 3 cubes of vegetable bullion, dried bay leaf, dried red pepper flakes, little vinegar, and some honey. Had some smoked paprika or a little liquid smoke which most grocery stores sell if you like that smoked meat flavor (the traditional recipe calls for a smoked ham hock or a hunk of smoked fat back). The pot-licker is full of vitamins and great seasoning for the greens Sauté the steamed greens with chopped onions and garlic in olive oil with your preferred seasonings like pepper, salt, etc. Add sautéed greens to the pot-licker and let them marinade for 30 or more minutes.