Collard and Kale Preservation

The greens that were planted last fall have started to bolt, so it was time to bid adieu to them and get ready for the spring and summer beds.

But first, I harvested a bunch of the collard and kale leaves that remained on the plants (at least the ones that had not yet been infested with aphids).

I ended up harvesting 3 pounds and 13.5 ounces of the Flash collards and 2 pounds and 0.2 ounces of several kale varieties.

I was certainly not going to be able to eat this many fresh greens in the next few days, so I had to think about longer-term food preservation.  I have never done any canning, and very little freezing (usually just of soups or ratatouille), so I had to do some investigating to see what made sense.

I determined it would be best for me to freeze the greens, but first, I had to blanch them to get rid of the enzymes that break down food so that the veggies will last longer and retain more of their nutritional value.

STEP 1 - First, I had to thoroughly wash the collards and kale

STEP 2 - Next, I de-ribbed the leaves by removing the tough stem

STEP 3 - Give the greens a rough chop

STEP 4 - Bring a pot of water to boil (about 2/3 full) and cook the greens in the pot for 2-3 minutes (3 minutes for collards and 2 minutes for other greens).

STEP 5 - Remove leaves from boiling water and submerge in ice water (in a large pot) for 2-3 minutes (I had a lot more ice in the pot to begin with, but most melted once I was on my third batch of blanching).

STEP 6 - Thoroughly drain the greens to remove excess water

STEP 7 - Put the greens in Ziplock freezer bags or seal with a vacuum sealer

It's kind of crazy how much greens cook down to.  Almost six pounds of leaves made about nine cups of blanched greens.  But, if I did everything correctly, these should last in the freezer for up to a year...much better than making myself sick of collards and kale in the next day or two.

If you have any great recipes that call for frozen collards/kale, let me know.  I will likely find myself in need of a new recipe, or two!

My harvest totals so far this year include:

• 7.5 oz Cherry Bell radish

• 3 lb 13.9 oz kale (several varieties)

• 6 lb 10.3  oz Flash collards

• 1 lb 7.7 oz Ruby Red chard

• 14.2 oz Fordhook Giant chard

• 7 colanders salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula) 

• 1 lb 2.9 oz Meyer Lemons (5)

• 1 lb 1.2 oz Broccoli (5)

• 7.1 oz cilantro

• 6.5 oz parsley

• 4.0 oz spinach

Collard Wraps & This Week's Harvest

The winter greens are getting to the end of the season and starting to flower, so I've been trying to use up as much of what remains as possible while I still can.

I haven't consumed my collards in many ways this year, other than by juicing them.  Since I had a lot of salad and sandwich type of ingredients on hand, I decided to make some collard wraps.

I grabbed three large collard leaves from the garden, as well as some kale leaves and fresh cilantro from the garden for my wraps.

I de-ribbed (took off the stem) of the collards and kale, and then prepped other items to stuff inside my wrap: grape tomatoes, avocado, red pepper hummus, deli turkey, pepperjack cheese and lemon.

I spread a couple tablespoons of the hummus on the leaf first (it helps to "glue" the leaf together), then stuffed the rest of the ingredients inside and rolled it up.  One and a half wraps were quite filling, so I'll have the remaining wraps for lunch tomorrow (yay for leftovers!)

Other winter green harvests this week included swiss chard and salad greens.

Arugula, Romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, and baby spinach.

My harvest totals so far this year include:

• 7.5 oz Cherry Bell radish
• 1 lb 9.7 oz kale (unknown variety)
• 2 lb 6.8 oz Flash collards
• 1 lb 7.7 oz Ruby Red chard
• 14.2 oz Fordhook Giant chard
• 7 colanders salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula) 
• 1 lb 2.9 oz Meyer Lemons (5)
• 1 lb 1.2 oz Broccoli (5)
• 7.1 oz cilantro
• 6.5 oz parsley

Today's Harvest & Kale Chips

The winter veggie garden is still growing strong.  Today I harvested another full colander of salad greens, several more heads of broccoli, as well as plenty of kale, collards and chard.

I used the lettuce, arugula and spinach to make several salads, the broccoli became a side dish, and the chard and collards went into some green juice drinks.  But I thought I would try something a little different with the kale this time...kale chips.

I de-ribbed the kale, cut it into about 1.5 inch pieces, coated it in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, spread it on a baking sheet, and sprinkled some of my home-made herb salt on them, then popped them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping the kale pieces about halfway through.

I love kale tossed in a salad or steamed as part of a side dish.  However, I've never actually had kale chips before.  I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but the kale chips didn't quite meet my expectations.  I think they were a bit more bitter than I anticipated.  They were also extremely light and airy and didn't satisfy any snacking cravings that I had.

 Or, maybe I just didn't prepare them quite right, in which case, I would be happy to hear about any tips or tricks you have in baking kale chips.

My harvest totals so far this year include:

• 7.5 oz Cherry Bell radish
• 1 lb 9.7 oz kale (unknown variety)
• 2 lb 6.8 oz Flash collards
• 11.7 oz Ruby Red chard
• 6.4 oz Fordhook Giant chard
• 4 colanders salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula) 
• 1 lb 2.9 oz Meyer Lemons (5)
• 1 lb 1.2 oz Broccoli (5)
• 7.1 oz cilantro
• 6.5 oz parsley