APEX Legacy · a way of life

Champion Collard

Champion collard — a sturdy, cold-hardy, slow-to-bolt collard that holds in the garden through hard winter. A dependable Southern home-garden and market green.

Compiled by APEX Legacy from published research and documented food history, under the editorial direction of Jonathan Jackson, Founder. How we write and review these pages →

Why it is ours

Champion is a workhorse of Southern gardens because it survives the winter and resists bolting, giving Black families fresh greens for New Year's and through the lean cold season.

What it does

Champion is full-strength collard medicine: about 357mg calcium per cooked cup with vitamin K1 to route it into bone and out of arteries, dietary nitrate for nitric-oxide blood pressure control, and glucosinolates converted to sulforaphane and DIM for cancer protection and estrogen metabolism. Its exceptional cold-hardiness means winter access to fresh greens precisely when fresh produce is scarce and respiratory illness peaks, sustaining vitamin C and folate intake through the cold months.

How it is cooked

Strip thick stems, ribbon the leaves, and braise with aromatics and seasoning meat for 45-75 minutes. Frost-touched winter leaves are sweeter and need slightly less cooking.

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