Greens

New Year's Greens

Tis the time of year to eat your greens! In my community, eating greens in the new year symbolizes money and prosperity. Because of this, it is hard to find greens and many people have to use canned or frozen greens. If you are lucky enough to find them, I urge you to use fresh greens. I'm aware that many of you may not know how to process fresh greens. That's ok; I'm here to help. In this tutorial, I am using fresh collard greens from the farmer's market and I process them down for current and future use. I am not, however, providing you a recipe for cooking greens. That, I would like to hear from you. Oh, and before you process all of the leaves, save a few for the bonus recipe. Cheers! And Happy New Years! I wish you and your family all of the best and as much prosperity as you can fit your appetite.

First wash your greens in a large container or sink. I do not use any soap. I just fill the sink with water and then rub a few leaves together. Swish them in the water, letting the dirt to fall to the bottom of the sink. 

Once the leaves are clean, drop them in rapidly boiling, unsalted water. Boil them just enough for the leaves to wilt. Then, place them in a pot with ice cold water to stop the cooking process. 

The boiling greens! Be careful! They are extremely hot!

Place wilted and cooled greens in  a ziplock bag for freezing; make sure that you squeeze out as much air as possible!

Bonus Recipe!

Before you process the greens, take a few out to make collar green chips! Simply drizzle a few leaves with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until crisp. Eat immediately.