A Quick Primer of Greens

Arugula

  • One of most nutritious salad greens
  • More calcium than kale and collards
  • Also beta carotene, vitamin C and calcium
  • Try it place of lettuce in sandwiches
  • Can be treated as an herb in potato and pasta salads

Beet Greens

  • You can eat the tops! More nutrition in greens than root.
  • Related to spinach and chard
  • Sauté in olive oil and garlic, then cover for about 10 minutes. Squeeze lemon before serving.
  • Stems need a little longer cooking time.

Chard

  • Versatile green. You can use the leaf and stalk
  • Cook in skillet with just water clinging to its leaves
  • Cook for 5 min, serve with lemon, olive oil and salt
  • Or served sautéed with olive oil and garlic

Chinese Greens

  • Bok choy - stir fry w/ ginger, garlic and red pepper
  • Chinese or Napa cabbage - pairs well w sesame seeds
  • Tatsoi - salads or stir fry or grilled
  • Mustard greens
  • Mizuna

Collard Greens

  • Loaded w/ nutrition
  • Remove center rib before cooking
  • Quick cook in 2 cups water for about 10 min. After draining, sauté in oil with other flavors.

Dandelion Greens

  • Yep the same one you pull from your yard, bitter
  • Precook for 2- 5 minutes in 2 cups water, then sauté in olive oil with garlic

Mustard Greens

  • Strong flavor
  • Works best paired with something; other veggies, soups, stir frys

Endive and Chicory

  • Escarole - often found in soups
  • Frisee - salads
  • Belgian endive
  • Radicchio - good on the grill

Kale

  • 5 grams of fiber, good source of calcium, daily requirements for A and C
  • Remove center rib
  • Cook covered in 2 cups boiling water for 4-5 min, enhance w/ flavored oil, lemon juice and salt
  • Combines great with white foods (potatoes, white beans and pasta)

Lettuce and Salad Greens

  • Arugula, Butterhead (Boston and Bibb), Endive, Frisee, Looseleaf (i.e. Red and Green Leaf, Red and Green Oakleaf), Mache, Mesclun (baby lettuces), Mizuna, Purslane, Radicchio, Romaine, Watercress
  • Add one or two additional ingredients and then wonderful ingredients to make salad dressing.

Parsley

  • Great in pesto

Spinach

  • High in A, C and E, high amounts of iron and carotenoids
  • Great in stuffed chicken, pesto, salad

Turnip Greens

  • Use both the root and the leaves, one of best sources of calcium
  • Bitter like mustard greens
  • Blanch first for 2- 3 minutes, then sauté
  • Roast along with root in oven at 350 for about 25 minutes

Watercress

  • Loaded with vitamin A, B1, B2, C, copper, iron and magnesium
  • 3x calcium as spinach
  • Add a bit to salads or in the last few minutes of cooking a soup

Wild Greens

  • Backyard "weeds", take a weed walk
  • Amaranth, Chickweed, Chicory, Curled Dock, Dandelion,Lamb's quarters, Mustard greens, Nettles, Pokeweed, Purslane, Violet leaves
Source: “Greens Glorious Greens” Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers