Mustard Greens

Despite growing up in the South, my mother never ever made any kind of greens....ever. None. I don't think she ever even served any kind of spinach cooked in any dish. No canned spinach. Only fresh in salads sometimes. Perhaps its because we are only Southerners by happenstance, not by birth. Having lived in several places in the South that would be considered far more Southern than Fayetteville, Arkansas, I have been exposed to far more greens in my adult life than my childhood. About a year ago I started cooking greens on a more regular basis.

At first it was just cabbage (never had it ONCE as a child), which Kyle loves. Then it was collard greens, which take quite a bit of bacon grease to taste good....or you just eat them because you know they are good for you. Then came beet greens from the garden and radish greens as well. Those were actually not planned last fall, but mere after thoughts. I considered planting collards this year, but they were left out of the plan. This spring I have had three rounds of radish greens and Kyle planted some beets that are bred especially for tasty greens. That brings us to mustard greens. They were planted a bit later than most of the early spring garden, but they sure are producing! This is the first batch I picked, and there are several batches left.

While the other greens are often stewed in the crockpot to make them tender, the mustard green recipes I found called for wilting in butter (or bacon grease) then cooking with just a cup or two of water until they reach your preferred tenderness. The cooking process takes less than 20 minutes, though prep time includes washing. Luckily these greens had very little dirt on them. Supposedly I was supposed to harvest them when they were smaller, but these were tender enough and had a great taste. WAY better than collards or the other greens I have tried.