Blacks, whites and greens

Someone correct me if need be. The way they told me: Dry corn is soaked in lye water (or wood ashes in water). The kernels swell up and split yielding a puffy, semi-soft kernel called Hominy (I believe the American Indians started it). Once dried, the hominy is ground into a meal called hominy grits, now just grits.

One Monday morning the operating engineer picked me up. He ran the manlift on the north side of the St. Lucie Unit One reactor building during construction. Elzie (?) was from maybe Fort Lauderdale. We stopped in Jensen Beach at a small diner for breakfast. He ordered two eggs sunny side up, bacon, and grits. When served he mashed the eggs and squirted a big shot of catsup and stirred his grits in with the rest. As his guest, I followed suit and have liked that combo every since.

Poke usually grows wild. While young and tender, the leaves are cooked various ways. The older folks'd say, "Eat them greens, boy. They'll clean yore guts out." They were often used as a spring "tonic" correctly known as a purgative, when consumed in too great quantities. At least they did me. I've been told that the older plants are poisonous. Ever hear that?


anonymous wrote:"...The only greens my mother refused to serve was poke. My maternal grandfather evidently loved it, but my mother thought poke was disgustingly slimy.

I don't remember her ever cooking creasy greens. Creasies weren't available in a supermarket. Poorer kids would pick semi-wild creasy greens wherever they could find them and try to sell them door-to-door. Mom never bought any...I'm sorry she never cooked them. The best greens I ever ate were creasy greens, served at a midwinter pot luck supper held by the Ft. Blackmore Ruritan Club in the mid-1980s. The best texture and flavor you can imagine.

ANONYOUS, What are CREASY GREENS? Was that a LOCAL term maybe?

An otherwise great cook I know insists on boiling turnip greens one time and serving them. She loves'em that way but they're way too bitter for my taste. Others have told me, "Pour off the FIRST boil water and boil'em again." Others say, "Tell'er to put a little sugar in when she boils'em." Any comments here?

My dad poured vinegar on greens.

WARNING: It may be a threat to your health & domestic tranquility to try and tell some gals how to cook greens.>

Ooh, the Internet is a wonderful thing.

Did a search on creasy greens. Found a section on 'specialty greens'.

Garden Cress. A peppery salad green that sprouts in 24 hours. Which means, like most greens, its probably easy to plant, grows quick, and cheap and plentiful to fix. And, I'll add, most of them are at least not unhealthy, and the 'dark greens' are actually very healthy. (Things like Iceberg lettuce falls under 'well, at least its not bad for you.)>

I was raised in Danville, VA. My Mom would send me out to pick "creasy greens". I would find most of them in a field that had been cultivated but not planted or had not been used that year for planting. The creasy had small round leaves and taste like turnip greens, but a little hot. When they went to seed the stalk and flowers looked a lot like turnip stalk and flowers. I thought Mom and I were the only people that knew about them. I have never met anyone until I read this blog, that had ever heard of "Creasy Greens".