{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "collards",
 "type": "dish",
 "names": {
  "name": "collards",
  "aliases": [
   "collard greens",
   "greens",
   "mixed greens"
  ],
  "said": "'Greens' on a Carolina buffet usually means these; when a house cooks turnip or mustard greens in with them it says mixed greens."
 },
 "region": [
  "carolinas",
  "nc-east",
  "nc",
  "sc",
  "us-south"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "course": "side",
  "styles": [
   "eastern-nc",
   "sc-mustard",
   "sc-pee-dee",
   "lexington"
  ]
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "Broad flat leaves of a loose-headed cabbage, stripped from the stem, cut in ribbons and stewed a long time with a piece of smoked pork until they are dark and soft, in a salty broth the South calls pot liquor. They are a staple of Southern cooking and one of the vegetables a Carolina barbecue buffet is judged by; cornbread is used to soak up what is left in the bowl. Eaten with black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day for wealth in the year to come.",
  "story": "The collard is an old non-heading cabbage, and the varieties grown in the United States thinned out after the Second World War as people left the land — five kinds in common cultivation by the end of it, with the rest kept alive by individual growers and seed savers and, since the early 2000s, by projects set up to bring them back. In the Appalachian counties the cabbage collard, yellow-green and part-heading, is the one grown; the coastal South grows the dark non-heading kind. The green carries meaning past the plate: Thelonious Monk wore a collard leaf in his lapel, Alice Walker wrote with collards, the first Obama state dinner had them on the menu, and the Latibah Collard Greens Museum opened in Charlotte in 2010. In eastern North Carolina the barbecue connection runs through the garden rather than the market — Bum's in Ayden cooks collards grown by the family and keeps a vegetable table few other eastern pits keep, and Grady's in Dudley stews them for a plate whose vegetables are peeled and chopped by hand that morning.",
  "how": "The leaves are washed several times to get the grit out, the thick centre rib is pulled or cut away, and the leaves are rolled and sliced into ribbons. They go into a pot with smoked or salted pork — ham hock, smoked turkey neck, pork neckbones, fatback — with diced onion, vinegar, salt and black, white or crushed red pepper, and some cooks add a little sugar. They cook down for an hour or more until soft. The broth left in the pot is the pot liquor and is served with them. The leaves may also be sliced thin and fermented into a collard sauerkraut, which is then cooked with flat dumplings.",
  "today": "On the buffet at Bum's in Ayden from the family garden; stewed at Grady's in Dudley; on the line at Dukes Bar-B-Que in Orangeburg; at Jackie Hite's in Leesville they were remembered as sweet and smoky; among the sides at Shealy's in Batesburg-Leesville and at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, which is a Texas house that lists collards as the local one."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "bums-restaurant",
   "as": "grown by the family and cooked that day, on the vegetable table few eastern pits keep.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "gradys-barbecue",
   "as": "stewed, on a plate whose vegetables are chopped by hand that morning.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "dukes-bar-b-que",
   "as": "on the buffet line with the butter beans and the mac and cheese.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "as": "remembered sweet and smoky on the buffet, beside hash and rice.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "shealys-bar-b-que",
   "as": "one of the vegetables on the Batesburg-Leesville line.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "lewis-barbecue",
   "as": "the Carolina side on a Texas menu, listed beside the pinto beans.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "mccabes-bar-b-q",
   "as": "as turnip greens, cooked by Mrs. McCabe with the rest of the buffet.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "cornbread",
   "as": "the bread that takes up the pot liquor.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-tray",
   "as": "the green vegetable in a tray or on a buffet plate.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "as": "the style whose vegetable buffets it anchors.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-mustard",
   "as": "on the Orangeburg buffets beside hash and rice.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "fixins",
   "as": "one of the fixins on a buffet plate.",
   "rel": "term"
  }
 ],
 "confusable_with": [
  {
   "id": "cornbread",
   "tell": "They arrive together and the bread is there to mop the pot liquor; the greens are the wet dark thing in the bowl."
  }
 ],
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "Collard (plant) — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collard_(plant)"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-collard-greens",
  "s:sfa-bums-restaurant",
  "s:web-ourstate-bums",
  "s:web-ourstate-gradys",
  "s:sfa-gradys-barbecue",
  "s:wp-dukes-bar-b-que",
  "s:web-sfa-jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
  "s:web-shealys-home",
  "s:web-lewis-charleston",
  "s:web-discoversc-mccabes"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-collard-greens"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.story": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wp-collard-greens",
    "note": "Bum's and Grady's from the Southern Foodways interviews and Our State"
   },
   "text.how": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wp-collard-greens"
   },
   "text.today": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:web-ourstate-bums",
    "note": "Lewis menu as posted 15 September 2026"
   },
   "recipes": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wikibooks-boiled-collard-greens",
    "note": "each recipe carries its own source, licence and page"
   }
  }
 },
 "recipes": [
  {
   "title": "Boiled Collard Greens",
   "source": "s:wikibooks-boiled-collard-greens",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
   "year": "read 16 September 2026",
   "url": "https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook%3ABoiled_Collard_Greens",
   "book": "Wikibooks Cookbook",
   "ingredients": [
    "2–3 lbs (900–1300 g) collard greens",
    "2 tablespoons pork fat or some type of oil (optional)",
    "¼ teaspoon salt",
    "2–3 teaspoons sugar (optional)",
    "1.5–2 lbs (700–900 g) smoked pork neck bone (optional, or, may substitute a much smaller amount of sausage)",
    "¼ teaspoon black pepper",
    "¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (powder or flakes; optional)",
    "¼ cup (60 ml) vinegar (optional)",
    "1 medium onion (optional), diced, chopped, or sliced"
   ],
   "text": "1. Thoroughly wash the collard greens with very slightly soapy water, and rinse clean with plain water. Rinse at least twice to ensure removal of all grit and soap.\n2. Leaves may be stripped from stems or left on if preferred. If left on, cut stems in small length (under 1 inch / 2.5 cm) for ease.\n3. Chop leaves into bite-sized pieces. They may be folded lengthwise or widthwise to facilitate this.\n4. Place chopped leaves into pot of boiling water—use just enough water to keep the greens off of the bottom of the pot; or else your greens will be watery and will have no flavor. Leaves will reduce in size while cooking, though not significantly. Depending on the size of the pot in which they're cooked, it may be necessary to cook some, then add more leaves after a brief time.\n5. Add remaining ingredients.\n6. Boil for approximately 20 minutes or until they reach desired tenderness. If overcooked, their taste will not be affected, but they'll be mushy."
  },
  {
   "title": "Braised Collard Greens",
   "source": "s:wikibooks-braised-collard-greens",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
   "year": "read 16 September 2026",
   "url": "https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook%3ABraised_Collard_Greens",
   "book": "Wikibooks Cookbook",
   "ingredients": [
    "2 ham hocks",
    "2 cloves of garlic",
    "Sea salt to taste",
    "2 quarts water",
    "2 lbs collard greens",
    "1 cup white vinegar"
   ],
   "text": "1. Place ham hocks, garlic cloves and a healthy pinch of sea salt in the 2 quarts of water, and slowly bring to a boil in a large stew pot until the ham hocks become tender.\n2. Meanwhile, wash the greens thoroughly with cold water to remove dirt, and then wash them once in the vinegar (do not pat dry after vinegar wash). Next, remove the stems and shred the leaves into thin strips.\n3. When the water is boiling, add the greens by the handful and turn the temperature down to medium. Simmer the greens uncovered until they are quite tender and the broth has reduced.\n4. Serve with hot pepper vinegar, Tabasco, or red pepper flakes.",
   "yield": "4 servings"
  },
  {
   "title": "Greens (receipt 385)",
   "source": "s:book-mrs-hills-new-cook-book",
   "license": "Public domain",
   "year": 1867,
   "url": "https://archive.org/details/mrshillsnewcookb00hill",
   "author": "Mrs. A. P. Hill",
   "book": "Mrs. Hill's New Cook-Book",
   "text": "Kale, or cole, mustard, cabbage sprouts, turnip tops, to any of which may be added a few beet tops, the young shoots of the poke plant, all make good spring greens. Pick and wash them; let them lie in cold water at least an hour before they are used. Put them on in plenty of boiling water salted; boil briskly twenty minutes; they will sink to the bottom when done. Take them up in a colander; press the water from them; put upon a hot dish; cut across the leaves in several places with a sharp knife; pour over melted butter; dress with poached eggs, either placed upon the dish of greens or served in a separate dish. They are not good unless served hot. Some persons prefer greens boiled with a piece of bacon or hock bone of ham. No matter in what way they are cooked, poached eggs should accompany them.",
   "page": "187–188",
   "note": "The mixed-greens receipt: collard is not named, but cole is the same plant and the pot of several greens with a hock of ham in it is the dish. Poke shoots are the young growth of pokeweed, which is poisonous when older."
  },
  {
   "title": "Bacon and Greens",
   "source": "s:book-housekeeping-in-old-virginia",
   "license": "Public domain",
   "year": 1879,
   "url": "https://archive.org/details/housekeepinginol00tyre",
   "author": "Marion Cabell Tyree, editor",
   "book": "Housekeeping in Old Virginia",
   "text": "The middling is generally used for this purpose: cut a piece about a foot square, boil three hours.\n\nTake a good head of cabbage, cut, quarter, and wash clean; press the water out as dry as you can. Boil them one or two hours with half a pod of red pepper; put them on a dish and the middling on top. You can fry the cabbage next day, and make a savory dish, but it does not suit dyspeptics. The thin part of the middling is used for frying, and is called 'breakfast bacon.' — Mrs. P. W.",
   "page": "129–130",
   "note": "Cabbage here rather than collards, but the method is the one a collard pot still uses: a square of side meat boiled for hours, the greens cooked in its liquor, the meat laid on top. A dyspeptic is someone with a weak digestion."
  },
  {
   "title": "Turnip Tops",
   "source": "s:book-virginia-house-wife",
   "license": "Public domain",
   "year": 1824,
   "url": "https://archive.org/details/virginiahousewi00rand",
   "author": "Mrs. Mary Randolph",
   "book": "The Virginia House-Wife",
   "text": "Are the shoots which grow out, (in the spring.) from the old turnip roots. Put them in cold water an hour before they are dressed; the more water they are boiled in, the better they will look; if boiled in a small quantity of water, they will taste bitter; when the water boils, put in a small handful of salt, and then your vegetables; they are still better boiled with bacon in the Virginia style: if fresh and young, they will be done in about twenty minutes—drain them on the back of a sieve, and put them under the bacon.",
   "page": "103–104",
   "note": "Turnip greens rather than collards, and the oldest of these: 'boiled with bacon in the Virginia style' in 1824."
  }
 ],
 "images": [],
 "x_commons_files": [],
 "confidence": "high",
 "needs_verification": false,
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "blurb": "Broad flat leaves of a loose-headed cabbage, stripped from the stem, cut in ribbons and stewed a long time with a piece of smoked pork until they are dark and soft, in a salty broth the South calls pot liquor.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "carolinas",
   "name": "The Carolinas",
   "state": null,
   "note": "both states together; use when a node belongs to the whole tradition"
  },
  {
   "key": "nc-east",
   "name": "Eastern North Carolina",
   "state": "NC",
   "note": "the Coastal Plain, east of the fall line and roughly east of Raleigh; 'Down East' further out toward the coast"
  },
  {
   "key": "nc",
   "name": "North Carolina",
   "state": "NC"
  },
  {
   "key": "sc",
   "name": "South Carolina",
   "state": "SC"
  },
  {
   "key": "us-south",
   "name": "The American South",
   "state": null,
   "note": "for nodes shared with the wider region"
  }
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "bums-restaurant",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Bum's Restaurant",
   "as": "grown by the family and cooked that day, on the vegetable table few eastern pits keep.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "gradys-barbecue",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Grady's Barbecue",
   "as": "stewed, on a plate whose vegetables are chopped by hand that morning.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "dukes-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Dukes Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "on the buffet line with the butter beans and the mac and cheese.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "remembered sweet and smoky on the buffet, beside hash and rice.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "shealys-bar-b-que",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que",
   "as": "one of the vegetables on the Batesburg-Leesville line.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "lewis-barbecue",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "Lewis Barbecue",
   "as": "the Carolina side on a Texas menu, listed beside the pinto beans.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "mccabes-bar-b-q",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "McCabe's Bar-B-Q",
   "as": "as turnip greens, cooked by Mrs. McCabe with the rest of the buffet.",
   "rel": "served-at"
  },
  {
   "to": "cornbread",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "cornbread",
   "as": "the bread that takes up the pot liquor.",
   "rel": "kin"
  },
  {
   "to": "barbecue-tray",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "barbecue tray",
   "as": "the green vegetable in a tray or on a buffet plate.",
   "rel": "part"
  },
  {
   "to": "eastern-nc",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "Eastern North Carolina barbecue",
   "as": "the style whose vegetable buffets it anchors.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "sc-mustard",
   "type": "style",
   "name": "South Carolina mustard barbecue",
   "as": "on the Orangeburg buffets beside hash and rice.",
   "rel": "whole"
  },
  {
   "to": "fixins",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "fixins",
   "as": "one of the fixins on a buffet plate.",
   "rel": "term"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-collard-greens",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Collard (plant) — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collard_(plant)",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:sfa-bums-restaurant",
   "kind": "oral-history",
   "title": "Bum's Restaurant — Latham 'Bum' Dennis and Larry Dennis, interviewed by Rien T. Fertel, 5 Dec 2011",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/bums-restaurant/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-ourstate-bums",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Bum's Restaurant — Our State (April 2014)",
   "publisher": "Our State",
   "url": "https://www.ourstate.com/bums-restaurant/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-ourstate-gradys",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Grady's Barbecue — Our State (2013)",
   "publisher": "Our State",
   "url": "https://www.ourstate.com/gradys-barbecue-dudley/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:sfa-gradys-barbecue",
   "kind": "oral-history",
   "title": "Grady's Barbecue — Stephen and Gerri Grady, interviewed by Rien T. Fertel, 7 Dec 2011",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/gradys-barbecue/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-dukes-bar-b-que",
   "kind": "wikipedia",
   "title": "Dukes Bar-B-Que — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_Bar-B-Que",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
   "note": "revision 1373146410"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-sfa-jackie-hites-bar-b-q",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Q — James Lee 'Jackie' Hite, interviewed by Rien Fertel, June 13, 2012",
   "publisher": "Southern Foodways Alliance",
   "url": "https://www.southernfoodways.org/interview/jackie-hites-bar-b-q/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-shealys-home",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Shealy's BBQ — official site",
   "publisher": "Shealy's Bar-B-Que House, Batesburg-Leesville",
   "url": "https://www.shealysbbq.com/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-lewis-charleston",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Lewis Barbecue Charleston — Hours + Location",
   "publisher": "Lewis Barbecue (official site)",
   "url": "https://www.lewisbarbecue.com/location/lewis-barbecue-charleston/",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-discoversc-mccabes",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "100-Mile Barbecue: McCabe's Bar-B-Que in Manning — Gwen Fowler",
   "publisher": "Discover South Carolina (South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism)",
   "url": "https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/100-mile-barbecue-mccabes-bar-b-que-in-manning",
   "accessed": "2026-09-15"
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-collard-greens"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-collard-greens",
   "note": "Bum's and Grady's from the Southern Foodways interviews and Our State"
  },
  "text.how": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-collard-greens"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:web-ourstate-bums",
   "note": "Lewis menu as posted 15 September 2026"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "green-beans",
   "type": "dish",
   "name": "green beans",
   "as": "the other pork-cooked green; a buffet with room keeps both.",
   "rel": "kin"
  }
 ]
}