In 1880, John Green described the importance of collards in the Southern diet by saying: In 1896, a comment was made that, “Everyone knows how good a dish of collard greens are with a “chunk of bacon”. “It is not likely that collards will become popular in the North, as kale is common and cheap and better adapted to a cold climate.” It is not known exactly when the Georgia collard made its debut, or who is responsible for its altered characteristics, but in 1905 one writer claimed the first Georgia-grown collard seed had been sent North some 35 years prior. by 1699, and over time evolved into the Georgia collard which grew taller and was especially appreciated in the South. Both the ancient Greeks and Romans left records of loose leaf coleworts that were grown as well as harvested in their wild form. They were also called a rosette colewort, green rosette colewort, or simply collard, and was capable of forming a small head although it was generally cut for greens. The European collard descended from the wild cabbages and is the oldest form of brassica. They live all through the summer, grow delightfully tender and juicy under Jack Frost’s attentions, and then in February go to seed along with those which have been sewn in the fall for the special purpose of making seed for sale to the dealers. The more the collard is cropped, the taller grows its stem, and it is nothing unusual to see straggling rows of stems some four feet high, crowned at the top with a rosette of dark-green leaves, and with brave little sprouts putting out up its entire length where the leaves have been taken off for cooking. That made them especially dear during hard times. By cropping, or cutting the under leaves and leaving the rosette intact in the top, the greens will produce an abundant crop of leaves throughout the year. “The collard, to the rank and file of Georgia Crackers, is what the potato is to the Irishman, and a dish of collard greens is a sine qua non of the dinner of the farm laborer, black or white.”Ĭollards grow in a unique pattern with the top leaves gathering to form a center rosette. They’ve never been as well received in the North, but in the South they knew no cultural boundaries. Cabbages aren’t fond of broiling heat and so does better in spring and fall in the South, whereas collard greens are well suited to the heat of a Southern summer.
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