Vates Champion Collard Greens

Collard Greens are a staple of my winter diet. The greens are well-known from Southern cooking, but another option is to cook them Brazilian style: slice the leaves into thin strips (cut out the stems and roll the leaves up together before slicing) then saute them with olive oil, garlic and a dash of salt. Cooked this way, Collards are delicious and make a fine side dish to meat or vegetarian main dishes. Finely cut Collards are often used in place of kale in caldo verde, the national soup of Portugal. Plant in the fall, spacing the plants 18-24” apart. Although Collard Greens can be eaten all year, the cold winter weather sweetens the flavor. Pluck off the leaves as needed and the plants will quickly make more leaves. Come February/March, as the days lengthen, the plants will bolt ('Vates Champion' has some bolt resistance) and you can either plant new plants or move on to summer crops.