Vates collard — the compact, dwarf, dependable collard behind much of the South's commercial and garden greens. Bolt-resistant, cold-hardy, and the variety many people picture when they say 'collards.'
Vates is the variety behind a great deal of the bagged and bunched collards sold in Southern groceries, so it is the collard most Black American families have actually cooked in recent decades.
Vates supplies what a collard gives you, standard and unimproved: roughly 357mg of calcium per cooked cup with vitamin K1 to direct it to the skeleton and away from arterial calcification, dietary nitrate for nitric-oxide-driven blood pressure lowering, and glucosinolates yielding sulforaphane for Nrf2 cancer-protective signaling and DIM for estrogen balance relevant to fibroids. Beta-carotene and lutein support vision against elevated glaucoma risk, and folate supports stress-taxed methylation.
Strip the central stem, ribbon the leaves, and braise with aromatics and seasoning meat until tender. The compact leaves are uniform and easy to clean and slice.
Free, no account needed to ask.