Leafy greens get a bum rap. You're not going to find many die-hard fanatics of kale or chard. Mention to your household that you're cooking turnip, mustard, collard or beet greens for dinner, and you're likely to be met with a scrunched up face or two.
At the Portland Farmers Market Blog, we stumbled on a great post from Jane Pellicciotto, who offers some convincing arguments in support of eating hearty greens. Why are they so good? For starters, they're nutritious to the extreme, carrying a huge array of vitamins and minerals like potassium, vitamin A, folic acid, magnesium and calcium. They also help reduce the risk of some cancers and cardiovascular disease.
And they're easy to grow in lots of climates so finding a local producer shouldn't be hard. They're also seasonal right now. Winter is the best time for hearty greens because the cold accelerates their metabolism, making them crunchier and sweeter.
Pellicciotto a hit up some of the top chefs in the Portland area for recipes that involve greens.
Read the post here.