I suspect they are one of the foods that became popular during Reconstruction.
I have made stuffed grape leaves with them, and my victi…fellow diner suspected nothing.
Yep, that’s the way I make them. My ex-fiancée lived in the South when she was in the Army, so she had the opportunity to consume quite a lot of collard greens. She said mine were the best she’d tasted. 
I usually only make collard greens when I make ham hocks & black-eyed peas. I really should make some ‘just because’.
I also like kale, especially when it’s in colcannon.
The Romans ate collards, you know. They were always a source of cheap nutrition in the South, although I’d bet primarily for slaves and the lower classes. They were a staple in my family, growing up.
They smell a hell of a lot worse than cabbage. My mother makes them for my dad for New Year’s, because it’s, you know, required. She’s a Yankee, though, so she cooks them outside.
I solve this problem by breaking out the pressure cooker - I have wonderful greens in twenty five minutes or so.
A bit different from what you’re thinking, but around here it’s pretty easy to find Southern Maryland style stuffed ham. This is a very traditional dish where deep slits are cut into a ham and these are stuffed with kale, collards, cabbage or some combination of the three. The ham is then baked and the ham juices work their magic with the greens.
It is a Sunday or holiday dish - you eat it hot one day and cold the next five.
I didn’t know your family were Roman slaves.
Infans Jesu invidit assini.
Especially when it’s saurkraut you’re supposed to have on New Years!
(Which I will ONLY eat when it’s my mother’s saurkraut soup she makes for Christmas Eve. I’ll never touch corned beef, though.)
Do this:
Wash collards (or turnip, mustard, etc.) greens thoroughly.
Saute fresh garlic (however much you want. I usually use a couple of minced cloves.) in 1/1 mix of butter and olive oil in a heavy pan with a lid.
Add a couple of splashes of white wine. Allow the sauce to reduce.
Decrease heat to simmer.
Pile greens in pan to the top. I mean, stuff 'em in there. Muscle the lid on as best you can. Weight it down, if necessary.
Let greens steam for a few minutes. They will cook waaaaay down. You always have less greens than you think you do. This usually takes less than five minutes. You want the leaves bright green and not mushy. Turn the greens over occasionally if necessary.
Toss in pan to mix the garlic/butter/olive oil/wine through the greens.
Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan in the hot greens. Let it melt and get all gooey, and serve.
I do this every New Year’s for a house full of guests, and it’s always a universal hit.
Where’s the pork?
And you call yourself a Southerner…
Collard greens tend to produce a lot of gas, at least for a lot of people. I believe this is why they aren’t more popular. And that gas can really hurt, there is the classic Sanford and Son episode where Fred eats 8 day old collard greens and has “the big one,” that turns out to be relieved with one big belch.
Collards are cheap too - even more so than other fresh vegetables.
Weird, two mentions of collard greens in two days! I might have to try them.
Loves me greens in soup or stir fry - I’ve had collard, but right now I’m working on what’s coming up in the garden, which this year is dandelion, spinach, kale, bok choy, and the green tops of radishes, turnips, and beets. Mmmmmm… can’t beat 'em picked 10 minutes before cooking and eating!
Yankee’s eat sauerkraut and pork for New Years.
Southerner’s eat greens, black eye peas and (stewed) tomatoes.
This is why we won that war.
If diet is an indication of economics, yes.
This sounds like a hit. I was raised in Texas, but don’t remember serious greens at home. My family’s Midwestern/New England roots? Or the fact that greens might have been a mainstay during the Depression & we were doing better?
However–I’ve been looking through my new copy of the original New York Times Cookbook. Which has some wonderful recipes, along with a few that just wouldn’t work nowadays. Like all the spinach recipes–in which you are instructed to boil hell out of the spinach & then add exotic flavoring. Now, we know that the water adhering to freshly rinsed spinach is sufficient to cook it when added to hot oil, etc. Otherwise, you get greenish paste.
Suddenly I’ve got new ideas for cooking greens. But I’d probably add some hot pepper flakes or tabasco. Because we’re next door to Louisiana down here & Louisiana rules…
I planned on stuffed gra…collard leaves tonight, Kroger had them cut in half and wadded up; not large enough to use as a wrap! The Evile Kroger Lady strike again. 
Not all of us – I eat pierogies. (Like I said, I hate saurkraut, unless I’m eating the leftover soup)