Guest Blogger: Paul Elliott, The Collard Patch, The Story of the Collard Greens Cookbook

If you think you don’t like collards, you haven’t tasted our collards.

The Collard Patchstory cookbook began life in Sister Ruth’s Laurel, Mississippi, collard patch. She invited us to pick a mess of collards, and did we pick a mess! We even made a mess. After the first big black plastic bag full, Mary said, “Paul, what are we going to do with all these collards?”

With a cavalier toss of his head, Paul said, “We’re going to fix them and eat 'em.” Of course, Paul wasn’t even sure he liked collards, didn’t know what they tasted like. Four big plastic bags of collards later, the cleaning and chopping process saw dawn’s early light. What a J-O-B!

Now reduced to many freezer bags of chopped collards and much needed sleep, the challenge of what to do with them remained. Fifteen thousand messes of collard greens with salt pork somehow overwhelmed our interest in healthy eating.

When an online search for a cookbook devoted to collard greens was fruitless, searches for individual recipes showed very little diversity or imagination. Mary went to work thinking of unusual ways to cook with collards. Paul signed up as a certified eater.

It was quickly obvious that the files were the beginning of a fine cookbook devoted solely to collard greens and cornbread. Research revealed the amazing nutritional value of collard greens – better than spinach, turnip greens, and mustard greens. (For more details look in The Collard Patch.)

Mary’s creativity soon yielded delicious recipes from appetizers to desserts. Yes, desserts! Collard greens make chocolate taste better. Did you ever realize you can eat your chocolate and get your greens? Other than eating Mary’s creations, Paul created stories of growing up in collard country – tales of his misspent youth.

It seems that a second edition may be on the horizon and we have some inventory to clear. Grab your copies for gifts at an unbelievably low price. Stock up for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and wedding gifts.

At $23.97 it was a cookbook bestseller on Amazon.com. This offer we’re making now on Amazon is good only while the supplies last. Maybe the price is too low. Go here to learn more.

Edward H. Davis Interviews Mary Lou Cheatham, Part 1

Edward, before you start asking me questions, I’d like to ask you a few.

Mary:Why did you write a book about collards?
Ed: My colleague John Morgan and I have been curious about several things: the decline of home gardening since WW2, and the unique history, botany and geography of collards as a leafy vegetable - none of the other vegetables have such an interesting background! No geographer has done a food study at this scale, since the South is such a large cultural region, so it made for a fascinating challenge.

Mary: What is the name of your book?
Ed: Collards and the American South

Mary: How did you go about writing the book?
Ed: This is academia so we were just doing research for small publications - journals you would never hear about, but then we learned more and more and a few years ago someone suggested we could have enough of a story for a book. We began in 2000 by interviewing farmers and gardeners, then as the project grew we ended up surveying agricultural extension agents, seed savers, grocery store produce managers, restaurant owners, seed store retailers, and even 11,000 college students! That last piece is part of a larger project about food in the South - not all of that goes in the collards book.

Mary: Did your wife help you?
Ed: Sandy is a big help in my life, even though she works also as a community college teacher. She did not work on the book, but I ws lucky to have her all along. For example, she allowed me to disappear on long expeditions for weeks at a time!

Mary: What is your book like? Please describe it.
Ed: You got a glimpse in the answer to the third question. It is going to be like a journey through ten Southern states, from Arkansas to Virginia, but with lots of history and agriculture and geography and economics and even literature thrown in, since collards show up not just at covered dish suppers but in novels, poems, songs, festivals, fashion shows, interior decorations, celebrity scandals, and even prison farms!

Mary: What is one of the recipes in The Collard Patch you and your wife like?
Ed: One of the casseroles - I don't have the book with me to remember the exact name of it - but it was a big hit at my family reunion!

Picking and Fixing Collards

Paul Elliott is the co-author of The Collard Patch. He loves to pick collards, cut them up, cook them, and eat them. I wash them. Get your own collard-cooking manual to learn the best ways to fix collards.

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON88q82BQq4

Collard Wraps

Make delicious wraps with collard greens!Paul Elliott, co-author of THE COLLARD PATCH, demonstrates his method of preparing wraps containing collard greens.


Get your copy of THE COLLARD PATCH at http://www.CollardLovers.comor Amazon.com

Get This Amazing Collard Story Cookbook, The Collard Patch, Now!

Get This Amazing Southern Cookbook, Flavored with Love, Now!

Picking and Fixing Collards

Get This Amazing Collard Story Cookbook, The Collard Patch, Now!

Collards fresh from the collard patch can be prepared hundreds of ways. THE COLLARD PATCH is full of delicious recipes and information to be read about collards and to read while the collards are growing and cooking. Farming and harvesting them is excellent exercise. To prepare them it is beneficial to remove the stems. Collard wraps and collard tortellini are two examples of unusual ways to eat collards. THE COLLARD PATCH is full of traditional and innovative ways to prepare collard greens.

Get This Amazing Southern Cookbook, Flavored with Love, Now!