Thursday, October 18, 2012

Fall greens, a southern favorite

       Collards, kale, mustard, rutabagas, and turnips are just a few plant species found in the Brassica family that do particularly well in the fall season. They can tolerate frost, and they provide remarkable nutrition. Kale in particular houses a variety of nutritional benefits. Kale is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. Whether eaten raw, or cooked down southern style these varieties of greens can be seen packing in quite a bit of flavor and much needed nutrition into your diet. Even Collards cooked down and salted only contains around 49 calories per cup and 308% of your daily vitamin A, 38% of your vitamin C and It is also a good source of Protein, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber,Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Manganese. If you would like more information on the nutritional data given in this post or on other foods please visit nutrition data.
      Along with various health benefits Fall greens have made their way into tradition and onto the Sunday dinner tables of a majority of homes here in the South. I think we can all agree some of our best memories of family gatherings include a heaping of greens and some pepper sauce to top it off. Though greens aren't always a favorite choice of the younger crowd, they can serve as an important part of one's diet. I once had a two year old apply a coat of of chewed english peas and carrots to my face. He looked at me in a way that exclaimed, " I will bet you $10,000 that you can't make me eat 'em", I surrender. There are truly some children whom you cannot make green eaters of for sure! However, the Florida broad-leaf mustard is an heirloom variety that doesn't have the bitterness of turnips that we have come to expect and enjoy. With their mild and sweet flavor our youngsters enjoy them, which is why we encourage families to try new varieties of the foods they love. Heirloom varieties have much to offer and are well worth a try. If you would like more information about our Seed Savers seeds or other heirloom seeds please feel free to check out our website or give us a call!Back to the Land Seeds, and also for a great resource for learning about when you should plant check out Seed Savers Exchange.


Thank you for reading,
BTTLS family

2 comments:

  1. Thankyou for the information. Think I'll try the Florida mustard!

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  2. Your most welcome, thank you for the comment! It's a great variety to try, we love finding new and different garden varieties to try out.

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