As I planted spinach recently, I was reminded that I love everything about greens - except their texture. And taste.
I love, for example, the idea of ringing in the new year with the traditional mess o'collards. I like the cheery colors of rainbow chard at the farmers market. I like how, nutritionally, greens make every other food look like a MoonPie. One serving of kale, for example, has a full day's worth of vitamins A, C and K.
The only problem, of course, is that you have to eat it first. I can't get beyond the weirdly soapy/bitter flavor of many greens, and don't even get me going on the sliminess of say, cooked spinach. Be honest: Anything that you have to cook for hours with a whole side of smoked pork to make it palatable has its flavor issues.
Luckily, I've discovered how to have my greens and eat them too - the green smoothie. Imagine you're in a smoothie bar, one of those places where they combine your favorite fruits with some ice and water in a blender to make a frothy drink. As you peek into your glass, you notice that it's green, which is odd, considering you ordered the mango-banana. You shout, "Waiter, there's kale in my smoothie!" You've been introduced to the green smoothie.
Now I know what you're thinking: Adding spinach to a sweet drink sounds like a good way to ruin it. But surprisingly, the same greens that have an assertive kick when cooked are mild when raw. It's nice, kind of like walking in a grassy pasture on a fresh spring day.
I'll transplant my kale and spinach seedlings in early September. They're quite easy to grow, especially if you cover them with fabric row covers to keep the cabbage worms off. These little green caterpillars seem to love the taste of greens, but no matter how green they are, I definitely want to keep them out of my smoothie.
Dan Heuser is a fourth-grade teacher in Chapel Hill and the faculty representative to his school's garden.
