Southern-Style Collard Greens and Ham Hocks start with a rich broth made from smoked ham hocks. Fresh collards greens are added and cooked until tender. Serve with cornbread, pepper vinegar, and fresh diced onions.
Another season is behind us. I harvested the last of my collard greens today. As excited as the prospect of spring makes me, I get a little melancholy at the same time. In the spring we will gather tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, cantelope and radishes and onions from our little kitchen garden. The gladiolus and sunflowers will make everything bright and sunny. The orange blossom’s perfume will be carried throughout our yard. Bees will be buzzing. Birds will be chirping. The spring season in Florida is glorious, no doubt about it. But the turnips, mustard and collards are gone for another season. Certainly, they are available almost all year round in the freezer cases, but I will be missing them from my garden.
Greens make me feel connected to my ancestors several generations back. As far back as we know, my ancestral line lived in the southern US and were poor people just doing the best the could to stay alive. Greens are well suited to southern climates. They grow rather quickly, produce prolifically, have a moderately long growing season and give up their seeds easily. In addition, they produce a nutrient rich green leafy, fiber filled vegetable. You can cook them with some smoked meat in large quantities to feed a whole passel of hungry folks at one time.
Add some Hot Water Cornbread and you have a complete meal that contains all the essential amino acids. After the greens are gone, the life of the meal can be extended by feasting on the pot likker, the nutrient rich soup that’s left in the pot. I imagine my ancestors had access to corn meal because corn was, and still is, a major crop in the south. Farmers would raise pigs for the meat and smoke cure the biggest part of it. Then, they all shared with their neighbors. Sharing and helping each other out was a way of life. They had a different mindset back then. Often times my grandparents would speak of the notion of being neighborly and sharing when they barely had food to eat themselves.
My granddaddy once said, “You might have a gracious plenty one year because your crops come in good. Next year, you could go through a spell of bad luck, sho’ as the world.”
For people who lived such meager lives, greens were a perfect food source.
Tomorrow, I will clean the greens, make a good rich stock from ham hocks and throw in the greens for the last time this season. I will be cooking the same food that sustained several generations of my ancestors. My kitchen will have the same grassy smokey aroma that their’s did. And I will eagerly await a bowl of fresh greens, just as they did. We will welcome the spring and say goodbye to the winter as we eat the last bowl of greens. And I will give thanks for our good fortune, sho’ as the world.
Before you even start messin’ with your greens, get your ham hocks started. Cover them with water, add a little salt (not too much just yet), and let them cook for a good hour.
Now, you can start on your collard greens.
Get rid of the big vein in the center. It’s tough and bitter.
You can fold each leaf in half, then cut the big vein with a sharp knife. I just tear my leaves off the vein. I can do that faster than cutting. You can do it either way. Now, the greens are ready for the triple washing. That’s right. Triple washing. Don’t cheat. I’m watching.
After the triple (three times) wash to remove all the grit, chop the greens. Just roll them up and chop in ribbons.
Add to the pot of boiling ham hocks and stock. Cover. Let them start to cook down. Don’t be afraid. They won’t completely disappear on you. They just cook down an awful lot.
After the greens have cooked down and are starting to get soft, then you start tasting for seasoning. I like my greens cooked in a simple fashion: in a good rich ham hock stock with salt, black pepper and honey as needed to cut the bitterness.
I have a friend who says, “I just go on and put everything but my foot in my greens.”
I LOVE THAT! Some people, including my friend, add vinegar, hot peppers, prepared mustard and who knows what all else. I do like to eat my greens with pepper vinegar and chopped sweet onions after they are done. But that’s about it. Oh, and cornbread, of course. It just a taste preference. And I happen to have one.
Once you’re satisfied you’ve got the balance of flavors just right, pour up the greens in a bowl. Shred the meat from the ham hock, eat some and throw what’s left in the bowl with the greens. Make you some good hot cornbread. Sit down at the table.
I have a brother-in-law, Andy Jackson, who grows Tabasco peppers and makes homemade hot pepper vinegar. He gifted us a bottle and I’m mighty proud to sprinkle that on my greens.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to love and appreciate good collard greens. Some of you are still stuck on the kale trend. Many of y’all don’t even have a brother-in-law who grows Tabasco peppers and makes hot pepper vinegar. For the love of all that is good and decent, learn to good cook collards or find someone who knows how. Collards are about as popular now as they’ve ever been. Just like with biscuits and sweet potatoes, which we’ve been eating for 400 years in the South, the rest of the country is catching on to our awesome iconic dishes. We’re glad y’all are finally getting on board with us.
Even though it took you 400 years, we never gave up on you.
Y’all come see us!
Southern-Style Collard Greens and Ham Hocks
Instead of exact proportions, I’m giving you the list of ingredients and the cooking instructions. Cooking greens isn’t precise. The proportions go up and down easily depending on how much you want to make.
2 or three large ham hocks
1 or 2 bunches fresh collard greens, triple washed and big vein removed
water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
honey
Place ham hocks in a large stock pot and cover with water. Add about a teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let cook for one hour until they are good and tender.
After an hour, uncover and bring stock back up to a boil. Add greens, a little bit at the time. They will cook down rather quickly. Continue until all greens are in the pot. Reduce heat and cover. Continue cooking until greens are cooked to your degree of doneness. This is purely a matter of taste preference. I pretty much cook mine to death, but that’s how we like them.
Keep tasting for seasoning and degree of doneness. Adjust seasoning as necessary. If the greens are too bitter for your taste, add honey or your favorite sweetening.
Before serving, remove ham hocks from pot. Take off any of the good meat, shred it and put it back in the greens pot. Stir and serve.
Southern-Style Collards Green with Ham Hocks
Ingredients
- 2 or three large ham hocks
- 1 or 2 bunches fresh collard greens triple washed and big vein removed
- water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- honey
Instructions
- Place ham hocks in a large stock pot and cover with water. Add about a teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let cook for one hour until they are good and tender.
- After an hour, uncover and bring stock back up to a boil. Add greens, a little bit at the time. They will cook down rather quickly. Continue until all greens are in the pot. Reduce heat and cover. Continue cooking until greens are cooked to your degree of doneness. This is purely a matter of taste preference. I pretty much cook mine to death, but that's how we like them.
- Keep tasting for seasoning and degree of doneness. Adjust seasoning as necessary. If the greens are too bitter for your taste, add honey or your favorite sweetening.
- Before serving, remove ham hocks from pot. Take off any of the good meat, shred it and put it back in the greens pot. Stir and serve.
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dessertfortwo says
You have me craving collards now!
Jackie Garvin says
Haha! They’re mighty fine.
Liz says
Can you please post the recipe for the fried cornbread and cornbread fritters you have in the picture ? They look just like my father used to make but my just don’t come out the same
EVELYN THOMAS says
Hi Nana I am from the South, Georgia. This recipe sounds good but the cut is important. We don’t remove the vein, we roll leaves and cut them in small string like cutting. You can add bell peppers green , yellow, red, onions to the boil for a tasty flavor with onion powder, garli. Definitely no sugar or honey.
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks for sharing your tips.
JRP says
This looks so good. Am I correct that you are using smoked ham hocks rather than fresh pork hocks? Thank you.
Jackie Garvin says
Yes, smoked ham hocks.