
Summer is finally here in the northeast, and what a beautiful time of year!
Today the sun is shining, birds are chirping loudly, and flowers are in full-bloom expressing their flirtatious scents all throughout the air. I sit here in the sun in such bliss on my patio, all while listening to my favorite song of the week on repeat (Post Malone/Ty Dolla “Psycho”). Such a special moment for me to be in the sunshine with amazing music blaring while I’m inspired artistically with my writing!
I recently visited Savannah Georgia for a long weekend, a place I’ve always wanted to see. I really love the south, the lovely people and their southern hospitality, plus their amazing foods that represent their vast cultural lessons of the past and present. I always feel saddened and deeply moved in reflecting the tragic history that was once lived in the south, and I wish to learn more about it each time I visit a southern state.
I truly feel that a lot of knowledge can be gained by eating authentic foods of a particular area or culture. It gives you so much information about the people, ingredient availability, cooking styles, weather, seasonality of crops, flavor preferences, and many other important things.
I decided I would eat my way through Savannah (lol), as I educated myself on some new culinary details of this special area I was exploring. I ordered all of my favorite foods (and anything the south is well-known for) at every single restaurant I went to. I did this to see both visually and through tasting, some of the differences expressed in flavor profiles, plating, and to compare one version of a particular authentic recipe to another.
Some of the foods I ordered were collard greens, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, buttermilk biscuits, and sweet tea.
What a fun time I had researching food and culture there… and maybe that’s why I had to increase my daily exercise to twice a day most of the days there!
I truly love the food and the stories behind their development, but diet foods they definitely are not! Haha!
Well, life needs to be lived full, and one needs to submerge themselves into every caloric bite and precious moment in order to gain a glimpse and glimmer into what life was and is like there. I learned so much about Savannah’s history through talking to locals, taking guided walking tours by historians, seeing many historic landmarks, and within the food itself by eating at many authentic restaurants in the city.
For my June recipe, I wanted to give you one of my all time favorite recipes for collards as it is called often in the south (or collard greens). These delicious green leafy cabbage relatives are truly a staple in southern living and southern eating.
Collard greens are said to originate from Africa through slaves on plantations cooking them in boiling water until tender, then drinking the liquid as part of their diet (referred to as both pot likker and pot liquor). Through their arduous journey to the present day popularity, these greens have become an integral part of southern food and the experiences they represent.
These mighty greens are also known as a “super food”, meaning they are one of the most beneficial foods you can eat. Some of the tremendous health benefits of collard greens include: detoxing the body on a cellular level, potent anti-cancer properties, rich in Vitamin C and antioxidents, B6, K, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin and Folate…. which all contribute to enhancing the immune system and blood. They also have properties that aid in stabilizing blood glucose levels with Diabetes, are high in fiber for GI health, lowers cholesterol, improves mood, anti-aging properties, and even sleep improvement.
See how powerfully full of health these green leafy vegetables are!
So let’s take a journey down south, with these beautiful bites of health and history with my traditional recipe for collards below.
Are you ready to eat some history and make your body healthier at the same time?
Let’s go taste a little piece of delicious southern history!
Music Inspiration: Post Malone/feat. Ty Dolla “Psycho”
Prep: 15 minutes
Completion: 2 hours
Serves: 6 (as side dish)
Ingredients:
Collard Greens 1 large bunch, washed/dried/chopped small, stems removed, equaling 2-3 cups once chopped
3 quarts Water
1 ½ Tbsp Salt
2 Smoked Ham Hocks
1/2 Yellow Onion, diced small
2-3 Tbsp White Vinegar
4 Tbsp Garlic Powder
3 Tbsp Onion Powder
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)




Let’s Get Cooking:
In a large pot, add the water and ham hocks and bring water to a boil.
Once boiling, add the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chopped onions… then stir well.
Next, carefully add the chopped collard greens to the boiling water and give a stir. Allow the water to come to a full boil again for one minute, then reduce heat to a rolling simmer. Cover pot and simmer on low for 1 ½ hours or until tender. Periodically stir the pot throughout the cook time.
Once Collards are tender, taste the liquid and add white vinegar 1 Tbsp at a time and additional salt to your own taste preferences. If you are on a low salt diet then simply keep the added salt minimal. As a reference, I like my collards with a bit of a vinegar taste profile generally… so I use 3 Tbsp in mine.
Remove ham hocks and shred the ham meat off the shanks.
Dice the meat up small, set aside.
Strain most of the water off the collards, place in a serving dish, and sprinkle the diced ham on top. If you like foods with a little heat, then use a little red pepper flakes on top too.
Then enjoy this delicious recipe of the south!