What can I do with Collard Green Juice? Please advise.

[jaymer]

We make our collards from homemade chicken stock, with a little more water added.  No bones, but we do add pulled pork, so its not vegan.

 

After collards are served, I'd LOVE to find some way of using the remaining juice - I can easily have 3-4 quarts that we normally throw away.

 

We recently started making white Calrose rice with 100% GREEN BEAN Juice - and thats really yummy.  After that rice (was 3 cups dry rice) finishes, I normally add another 8 oz. of additional green bean juice just to "lubricate" the rice a bit.  If it stays on heat for an hour it will get sticky, but its delish right away.  I have my first batch on now with collard juice, but I'm hoping y'all can give me some more ideas.

 

thx

J

 

[Kim Shook]

Make some cornbread and have a bowl of heaven: http://www.roadfood.com/Recipes/494/pot-likker

[Norm Matthews]

Here is a recipe I have had for years.  Pot Likker is collard 'juice'

 

POT LIKKER-BRAISED FRESH HAM HOCKS WITH COLLARD GREENS AND POTATOES

 

FOR THE GREENS

 

2 lbs.. collard greens, stemmed and well washed

6 slices bacon

1 lar.. onion, peeled and diced large

1/2 C cider vinegar

2 Tbs. Kosher salt

2 Tbs. cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

 

2 fresh ham hocks, about 1 lb each, trimmed of most external fat

2 tbs. veg.. oil

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

2 lbs.. new potatoes, washed and halved

 

1. In a large stock pat, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.  Add the collards, bacon and onion and stir several times, then reduce the heat to low and add the vinegar, salt, pepper and pepper flakes.  Cover and simmer for 2 hours.  Remove the greens with tongs, drain them and set them aside.  skim the fat from the liquid (the “pot Likker”) and leave it in the stockpot over very low heat.

 

2. preheat the oven to 500 degrees

 

3. In a deep roasting pan, toss the ham hocks with the oil, then sprinkle generously wit salt and pepper.  roast for 20 minutes to brown, then reduce temperature to 300 degrees.  Remove the hocks from the pan and skim off the fat that has accumulated in them, leaving the meat juices behind.  Put the hocks back in the pan and add enough pot likker to cover them about halfway.  Cover the pan tightly with foil and braise in the oven for 1 /2 hours.

 

4.  Add the greens and potatoes to the pan, cover again and cook until the hocks and potatoes are tender, another 30 minutes to 1 hour.  to check for doneness, stick a fork straight down into the meat and try to pull the fork out.  If the fork slides out easily, the meat is done: If the meat hangs on the fork, give it some more time.

 

5.  To serve, spoon the greens onto a serving platter and moisten them slightly with pot likker.  Pull the meat from the hocks, set on top of the green and surround with the potatoes.

[heidih]

Are you talking home or restaurant. For some reason the amounts and what you wrote seem to point to resto? Makes a difference on recommendations. 

[Norm Matthews]

The recipe was written for a big family but I normally use two bunches of collard greens and two ham shanks because I usually can't get big meaty ham hocks and adjust for the rest of the ingredients. I seldom use that much water, vinegar or bacon and often add some sugar.

[caroled]

If I was fortunate enough to have 3-4 qts of this heavenly nectar I'd be drinking it from a jar!!

 

Seriously, If it was going to be a while til I cooked collards again, I'd freeze any extra, and use it as the beginning liquid for the next pot.

[Ttogull]

I've never tried it, but some sort of white bean cooked in the liquid might be interesting.

[jaymer]

This is from/for my restaurant.

I use a 12 gallon tilt steam kettle to cook a batch... only about half full.

 

I used a Zojirushi rice maker with washed, white CALROSE to try my first batch with collard juice.

The grains were not mushy, but they were very sticky. Maybe some oil or butter might have helped.

Surprisingly, I like the flavor from using our leftover green bean juice more.

Even after adding 8oz of collard juice to the cooked rice (and a Tbsp of salt) it wasn't really that good.

 

still looking...

thx

 

@caroled - I cook them weekly. I guess I could roll that liquid into the next batch. 

@ttogull - I don't cook many beans from scratch, but it would be interesting to see how much flavor (if any) got into the beans. 
 

[caroled]

you could keep that liquid going indefinitely? sort of a "master sauce" for collards   

[Plantes Vertes]

you could keep that liquid going indefinitely? sort of a "master sauce" for collards   

 

I think it might eventually contain a great deal of oxalic acid, which could make it quite unpleasant and unhealthy for consumption.

[jaymer]

@caroled  I'm a bit hesitant to keep that going as you describe.  Heck, I don't even like adding a freshly reheated batch into the same container of older collards that have been sitting on the serving line.  For example, if I put a couple of quarts of collards on the lunch line (and of course they are held at safe temp), and if I have some left over come dinner, I don't want to add my "fresh" collards into that "older" juice.  The lunch ones are still delicious... just "older".  So I don't want to degrade the fresh batch. 

If I cooked collards in "old" collard juice, then I think it would affect the flavor of that batch.   But thats just a wild guess. 

 

True, I AM looking to find something neat to do with leftover "old" juice... but it just seems wrong to start fresh collards off that way.

 

thx

J

[huiray]

@caroled  I'm a bit hesitant to keep that going as you describe.  Heck, I don't even like adding a freshly reheated batch into the same container of older collards that have been sitting on the serving line.  For example, if I put a couple of quarts of collards on the lunch line (and of course they are held at safe temp), and if I have some left over come dinner, I don't want to add my "fresh" collards into that "older" juice.  The lunch ones are still delicious... just "older".  So I don't want to degrade the fresh batch. 

If I cooked collards in "old" collard juice, then I think it would affect the flavor of that batch.   But thats just a wild guess. 

 

True, I AM looking to find something neat to do with leftover "old" juice... but it just seems wrong to start fresh collards off that way.

 

thx

J

 

Offer it to your customers.

 

Add a note to your menu that it is available if desired "depending on availability".  If I were one of your customers I would be delighted and appreciate the nice gesture you made, remember your place, and go back for more when i want collard greens - with other stuff ordered for my meal, of course.