Collards

There is often confusion that collards originated from Africa due to their popularity in Southern cuisine, especially since there are many crops in Southern cuisine that are of African origin. However, collards are a cold weather crop that suffers from pest infestation and dry leaves when exposed to temperatures higher than 100F. They also need to go through a winter season to produce viable seeds. In fact, collards are such a cold hardy crop, they can survive below freezing temperatures, and varieties grown prior to their introduction in the United States had leaves that were nearly purple or blue.

North Carolina is particularly important to the legacy of collards in the South because it has the earliest records of collard cultivation by Cherokee people. You can learn more in our collards profile!